A Complicated Destiny

by MCGoldYoshi

You'd think being the child of two of the most well know heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom would be an awesome and carefree experience. Well for one young Yoshi this isn't the case. With many hardships and constantly in the shadows of her "perfect" parents, this Yoshi must discover her true power, before the greatest darkness uses it to doom the Mushroom Kingdom for good.

44. Chapter 44: 3 Style Retro Battle

WOW, not even a 2 week wait! I am completely amazed! :o Last time Yoshi and the others had made their final preparations at the Castle, received some words of encouragement from some familiar faces, and FINALLY arrived at Bowser's Abandoned Castle. Bowser didn't waste much time challenging our heroes and it looks like a battle is underway….CHAPTER 44 COMMENCE! _

Mario and the others felt the ground tremble under their feet as Bowser charged towards them. Mario without thinking charged towards Bowser as well.

"MARIO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"BRO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Peach, Luigi, Yoshi, Birdo and Daisy's voices shouted in panic as Mario charged towards Bowser. Despite the calls from his friends Mario readied his fist, before suddenly out of nowhere a large white shape with a face flew right in front of Mario. Mario let out a shout in surprise, he quickly recognized the object.

"BWA HA HA HA! See if you can jump high enough to reach this Plumb-dumb!" Bowser laughed, as he suddenly jumped into the clown car and hovered above Mario.

"Oh come ON! You can't fight without your little gimmicks?" Daisy's voice yelled, although a hint of mockery was in her voice.

"Oh please Daisy, you and the rest of you half-pints should talk! Constantly using those Power-ups of yours to defeat my minions!" Bowser sneered at Daisy and the others. "Who's the one reliant on gimmicks now?!" Nothing was said however Daisy did cast an angry glare at Bowser. Yes, they did use Power-ups often to take Bowser down….However Bowser tended to use underhanded tactics to get what he wanted, plus he always sent hundreds of his lackeys to stop anyone in his way. How could one person (sometimes several) be expected to fight hundreds of enemies without any help? They may have used Power-ups, but Bowser wasn't necessarily at a disadvantage because of that, in fact most of the time he still had the advantage, regardless of the Power-ups. Daisy's thoughts were interrupted as Bowser laughed again. "Speaking of my minions MECHA KOOPAS ATTACK!" Gasps suddenly erupted into the room as the group realized that they were surrounded by a vast number of Mecha Koopas. Purely on instinct Yoshi's tongue suddenly lashed out and grabbed one of the approaching Mecha Koopas, turning it into an egg. Both he and Birdo turned to each other and nodded, they both aimed their attacks at Bowser. A twisted grin grew on Bowser's face as the two eggs flew towards him, before suddenly evaporating into thin air.

"WHAT?"

Yoshi stared completely dumbstruck, Birdo blinked not believing what she had just seen. Luigi, Daisy and Peach were trying to defeat most of the Mecha Koopas. Completely overtaken by shock, Yoshi and Birdo didn't notice the 3 Mecha Koopas closing in behind them.

"HEADS UP YOSH!"

Both Yoshi and Birdo flinched as they quickly turned around, suddenly Luigi, Daisy and Peach jumped onto the Mecha Koopas just inches from them.

"You gotta be aware of your surroundings Buddy! Those creeps almost snuck up on ya!" Luigi gasped. Yoshi and Birdo murmured a thanks, completely astounded on how close of a call that had been. Luigi, Daisy and Peach heaved the defeated Mecha Koopas over their heads.

"TAKE THIS BOWSER!"

Luigi shouted as he, Daisy and Peach went to throw their Mecha Koopas towards Bowser.

"Luigi wait!" Yoshi choked, however it was too late as the 3 made their attacks. Luigi felt his jaw drop as the 3 attacks evaporated, Daisy and Peach blinked not believing what they had just seen.

"BWA HA HA HA! HOW 'BOUT I SHOW YOU HOW THE ATTACKING WORKS!"

Without warning Bowser's clown car came plummeting down towards Yoshi and the others.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Mario's voice suddenly shouted as the group scattered, as the clown car hit the ground. Everyone fell over as mini shockwaves erupted from the ground. The only one not bowled over was Mario who had seen this after effect coming. While Bowser was distracted by taunting the others, Mario suddenly grabbed one of the defeated Mecha Koopas and tossed it towards Bowser.

"BWA HA HA HA! YOU'RE ALL DOWN FOR THE ARGH!"

Yoshi and the others flinched as a loud roar caused them to shield their ears. Bowser was suddenly knocked from his Clown car and hit the ground. Bowser quickly recovered, however he immediately turned towards Mario.

"Very clever Mario, but that's not gonna get you your pretty daughter and cowardly pipsqueak son back!" Mario clenched his teeth angrily at the mention of his children, especially in such an insulting manner. Anger fueled up inside him, Mario charged fists raised. Meanwhile Yoshi and the others laid on the ground. Regaining his composure Yoshi saw Mario charging for Bowser. Something didn't seem right, despite the protection of the Clown car Yoshi's attacks and the others still should have worked, yet they had evaporated just like that. Why weren't they working? Looking around at the battlefield one last time caused Yoshi to gasp in realization, Tatanga, King Boo, Shy Away, Valentina, Dodo, EVEN Wiggler, they all had the same thing in common.

"MARIO STOP! HE'S NOT REAL!"

Yoshi shouted as loud as he could. Yoshi's shout was enough to distract Mario, Bowser seeing the opportunity moved out of the way. Mario let out a growl in frustration.

"Mario, don't let him get to you….He's not the real Bowser!" Yoshi's voice went a bit weak as he said the name, but stared firmly at Mario. "He's like all the others, he's just an illusion!" Silence took over the room as everyone stared at Yoshi.

"BWA HA HA HA! VERY funny Yoshi, Of course I'm real! If I weren't would I have been able to knock the 5 of you over like bowling pins?" Bowser laughed, shaking his head at Yoshi's foolishness.

"Whether you can harm us or not doesn't change the fact that you're gonna disappear once Mario kicks your sorry butt!" Yoshi retorted a slight smile on his face.

"You think you're so clever with that disgustingly adorable smug face of yours!" Bowser snarled, to the groups shock the ground seemed to tremble a bit as Bowser spoke. "But as I said earlier YOSHI, this battle isn't yours….." Yoshi simply glared back at Bowser.

"SO BUG OFF!"

Without warning Yoshi felt something pelt him in the stomach knocking him backwards, cries of pain from Birdo, Luigi, Daisy and Peach echoed in the room as Yoshi involuntarily crashed into them causing them all to hit a wall. Instantly they were lifted into air. Mario let out a gasp as he stared at a large cage that now contained his friends.

"Now that THAT'S taken care of….." Bowser stopped for a moment as he slowly turned his head towards Mario a smirk on his face. "PREPARE YOURSELF!" Mario suddenly jumped to the side as Bowser blew fire at him. "C'mon Mario weren't you just about ready to punch me in the face?" Bowser chuckled in a mocking tone. "Why the sudden fallback?" Mario jumped again as Bowser made another attack on him. This time unfortunately Mario hadn't been paying attention to where he was jumping and he felt the wind knocked out of him, as Bowser had quickly whipped around and smacked him in the torso with his tail.

"MARIO!"

Peach's voice cried out first, watching as Mario slammed against the wall just above the cage.

"C'mon Bro get up! He's coming!" Luigi gasped, grabbing the bars of the cage.

"Mario come on get up, you have to get up!" Birdo also gasped, quickly glancing behind her to see that Bowser was closing in on Mario fast.

"AH SHADDUP ALL OF YOU!"

Without warning all 5 friends were knocked off their feet as Bowser smacked their cage with his fist. Gasps of shock and whimpers of pain came from inside the cage. Mario's eyes slowly opened, his vision was slightly blurred. He had heard the gasps and whimpers from his friends. Dazed he looked up towards the cage, however something else caught his attention as his vision returned to normal. Bowser made a lunge for where Mario lay dazed, however to his confusion he simply crashed into an empty wall. Before he even had a chance to register what had happened, he felt something grab his tail.

"So long Bowser!"

Came a familiar laugh. Bowser attempted to lash out and escape from the grip, however he was quickly flung across the room. Cheers erupted as Peach and the others saw what Bowser was heading for. Bowser didn't even have time to blink as he suddenly crashed into a large rounded object, that exploded upon contact.

"GAHHHHH!"

Cheers from the others erupted again as Mario stood a few feet in front of their cage, a look of sheer confidence.

"WAY TO GO BRO!"

"WONDERFUL DEAR!"

Cheers from Luigi and Peach caused Mario to turn and smile, all 5 of his cohorts cheering for his amazing feat. That moment of glee was ended in an instant, as suddenly a large fireball barely missed Mario's head and instead hit the chain that held the cage up. Within seconds the cage flew several feet and landed onto the brick floor, panicked cries and squeaks were audible as the cage rolled across the room. To Mario's panic and to the captives' the cage was rolling towards a pool of lava. Not even thinking about the possible cause of the attack, Mario immediately ran towards the cage, desperate to stop it.

"HOLD ON PEACH, LUIGI! *Gasp* EVERYONE I'M-A COMING!"

Mario choked, running as fast as he could. Mario only received a few whimpers in response. Just as it seemed as if the cage was going to fall into the lava something suddenly plummeted in front of Mario knocking him backwards. Despite the pain in his body Mario quickly gave his attention back to the cage, a fairly large hole was now in the brick floor. Due to the incline, the cage slowly rolled backwards before settling in the hole. Mario couldn't help but let out a sigh in relief, as his friends for the moment were safe.

"You seriously didn't think I was done yet did you!"

Feeling his spine tingle Mario quickly stood himself up. Bowser stood just feet from him, a malicious smirk on his face.

"Sorry I interrupted the Hero worshiping party, but you haven't won yet Mario!" He growled, glancing at the now idle cage next to him. Mario felt his body tense up, despite his eagerness to put Bowser in his place, any wrong movements could mean disaster for his friends. "I still have years of punishment to deal out PLUMBER!" Without warning Bowser suddenly leapt at Mario, before quickly plummeting down towards him. Despite being caught off guard Mario managed to jump out of Bowser's reach. Upon hitting the ground Bowser destroyed almost half of the brick floor, bits of brick flew everywhere, some fragments even flying into the lava pool several feet away. Mario quickly turned his attention to the lava pool. If he could lure Bowser towards the lava, he'd be able to defeat him. However Mario's eyes quickly moved towards the cage where his friends were still trapped. They were way too close to the lava, a possible attempt to lure Bowser towards the lava pool could mean catastrophic results for them. A risk Mario was not going to take, quickly scanning his surroundings Mario stared at the hole that Bowser was currently standing in, he needed to lure Bowser further towards the center of the room, away from his friends. Glancing one final time at his friends' cage he made run for the center of the room. Bowser immediately bombarded him with fireballs before going for another air attack. The fireballs disoriented Mario a bit but he managed to again avoid Bowser's aerial assault. Not wasting time, Bowser again sent several more fireballs Mario's way, this time however Mario was able to maneuver around them with ease. "STAY STILL YOU MINIATURE MENACE!" Bowser growled, plummeting towards Mario again.

"Too fast for the King of the Koopas?" Mario chuckled, as he flawlessly leapt out of Bowser's way once again. A glint of annoyance gleamed in Bowser's eyes.

"I'll make you EAT those words you Lasagna Lovin' Loser!" Bowser snarled not even bothering with his fireball attack this time and immediately went for another aerial attack. Mario ran back to the spot he had originally lured Bowser to, Bowser broke through another layer of bricks.

"Not at this rate!" Mario shouted, running for another spot.

"WANT TO BET!" Before he even had time to register what had happened Mario suddenly saw his hat go flying off his head. Landing several feet away from him, Mario felt panic and anger as smoke was visibly coming off of it. He didn't have time to express his anger however, as something hot suddenly made contact with his arm. Bowser's laugh echoed in the room as Mario let out a yell of pain. Immediately grasping his arm, he quickly glanced down, Mario clenched his teeth in anger and pain as a hole was now visible in his sleeve. "What was that you said now?" Bowser chuckled, as Mario continued to grasp his arm. "Who's laughing now Plumber?" This time Mario didn't have a response, the burn on his arm aching intensely, he simple stared at Bowser. "Nothing to say this time? Well perhaps now you understand who has the upper hand here!" Bowser cast a smirk towards Mario's hat and immediately shot several fireballs at it. Feeling a rush of adrenalin Mario sprinted to retrieve his hat, seeing the opportunity Bowser leapt into the air. Mario leapt and snatched his hat off the ground before any of the fireballs were able to make contact with it, however a large shadow grew on the ground. This time Mario unfortunately wasn't as lucky, scrambling to get out of the way, Bowser hit the ground just inches next to him. Mario let out a yell as he was thrown forward, landing on his back. Letting out a deep exhale and a grunt of pain, Mario struggled to his feet. Bowser laughing at his misfortune. Mario cast a glance at Bowser one last time before breaking into a run, Bowser chuckled at Mario's futile attempt to escape. "Looks like this is the end of the Mario era!" Taking a running start Bowser leapt into the air, much higher than he had jumped the other times, plummeting down double the speed. Glancing up at Bowser, Mario leapt out of the large hole he had placed himself in, before Bowser crashed into it destroying a third layer. "What is this?" Bowser suddenly growled as he stared at the large hole he now stood in. Within seconds a loud cracking sound could be heard from under Bowser's feet. Bowser's glare instantly turned to look of shock as he quickly looked up at Mario, who was looking back at him.

"Not yet it isn't…." He simply spoke firmly. Immediately the weak ground beneath Bowser broke away.

"What? NO!"

Bowser roared, disappearing from sight. Several moments of silence past before Mario slowly inched towards the hole. Glancing down a pool of lava was visible, Bowser however was nowhere to be seen. Letting out a gasp in relief, Mario's attention quickly bolted away from the pool of lava to the cage. Turning to look at the pool of lava one last time, Mario bolted towards the cage. Luigi and Yoshi were the first to come into sight, Birdo, Daisy and Peach were piled on top of them. Finally reaching the cage Mario grabbed the bars.

"Are you all okay?" He gasped, looking over at each of his friends particularly his wife. Quiet groans were his response. Tightly grasping the cage's door Mario yanked it as hard as he could, to his surprise the door creaked open the first attempt. "Peach! Give me your hand…" Mario gasped, trying to keep his voice calm. Wincing slightly, Peach slowly turned towards Mario, a relieved smile crept onto her face. Mario returned the smile as he held his hand out to her, taking it without hesitation Mario helped her out of the cage. As much as she wanted to hug her husband after such a frightening ordeal, both she and Mario helped the rest of their friends out of the cage. All of them a bit shaken, but surprisingly none of them suffered any obvious injuries.

"Wow…..*pant* You did it Mario…." Yoshi gasped, his voice shaking.

"That was amazing Bro!" Luigi also gasped, his entire body trembling. Birdo and Daisy also offered Mario words of amazement before Mario gave his attention to his wife. Both he and Peach took each others hands in their own. Staring at each other they knew without words what the other was thinking. Peach's eyes teared up a bit, before she and Mario embraced each other. Their 4 friends simply smiled, grateful the battle was over. Suddenly a light engulfed the room, all 6 friends let out exclamations of shock. Quickly turning in the direction of where Bowser had fallen, Mario slowly shielded his eyes with his hand. Cries of excitement but also whimpers of joy sounded as the sight they had been waiting a long time to see glimmered in front of them.

"Star number 6.…"

The same joyous thought ran through the 6 parents' minds as Mario started to walk towards the Star, Peach and the others slowly followed. As Mario stopped in front of the Star, Peach let out whimper.

"We're finally here….The last Star…." She sniffed, covering her mouth with one hand. Mario turned to her, smiling warmly at her. Nodding at her, Mario finally turned to accept his prize and the last key to their journey. Upon being touched, the Star let off a lustrous glow and Mario felt a great power run through his body. After the glow disappeared Mario turned to look at his friends, however they weren't looking at him, instead they were looking at the ceiling above where Mario's Star had been. A bright white light gleamed overhead, the 5 remaining friends came to join Mario in front of the hole where Bowser had fallen.

"Do you feel that pow…" Peach started to say, before a pink light illuminated off of her, before any of the others could speak, Daisy's body illuminated yellow. Luigi's green, Yoshi's illumination a light green, Birdo's a pink while finally Mario's body gave a red glow. All at once the lights combined and went into the light gleaming above them. The 6 friends stared in awe at what was now before them, a gleaming portal glowing in all 6 respective colors.

"Th-this is it….." Yoshi's voice suddenly sounded, he sounded as if he were about to cry. A few snivels throughout the group could be heard, before Mario turned to the group.

"Here we go everyone!"

*Phew* That battle took a bit of thinking to figure out… Lol Yep for those who've played the games I combined elements from the Bowser battles in Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Bros. 3 ^.^ I wanted to mix things up a bit and honestly I didn't want to pick only one out of these games… (Also I put some Cartoon references (Mario ones of course) in here XD

This chapter comes with a bit of "sad" news….Due to school (plus other things) A Complicated Destiny won't be updated for a bit… (I'm hoping no longer than 2 Months…But as everyone knows things have a way of not going the way you want… (Sometime working FOR you…But sometimes AGAINST you as well… ) I just wanted to give you all a heads up. : )

OMGOSH YES! Looks like our heroes have found the FINAL Star at LAST! :D It came with a bit of a "excitement" but they all made it out in one piece! ^.^ Looks like our heroes are finally off to Bowser's actual Castle! Once again I want to thank you ALL for your continued support…2 Years is a LONG time to write and I couldn't have made it this far without your support, so again THANK YOU ALL! ^.^ What awaits Yoshi, Birdo and the others? See you all in the NEXT Chapter of A Complicated Destiny!

Mario related Material Property of Nintendo

Story and FC Characters (meaning Shelly, Dash, Ilario, Angela, Azalea, Koop, Parry, Surge, Lilli, Karrie and Phoenix) Property of MCGoldYoshi (aka ME! ^.^ )