Werewolf99: I'll explain why certain Mario characters can use it eventually, but for now it's a secret because it ties into the ending. I will give a hint, though: In this story, there are seven Mario characters who can use the Emeralds. Four are humans, or look human. They all have something in common. And heck no, I wouldn't want them to even be able to compare.

This is really coming along, isn't it? Man, I'd forgotten how much fun this was! That other fic I mentioned is coming along, too... Actually, there's two I have planned. One of them is almost definitely happening, and it's a Sonic fic - No Mario characters whatsoever, and I've already written the first couple of chapters. The other is solely a Mario fic, and might be multi-chapter, might just be a oneshot, or might not happen. Both are similar ideas - Though because of what they are, that doesn't mean they're similar to each other. If anyone wants to figure that out, go for it!

Chapter 17 (VS Bowser & Eggman)

"Now, stop it, Elise. You have nowhere to go," Eggman said, as Elise was standing up in his Eggmobile.

"I would rather die than be your prisoner again!"

"What are you going to do, anyway? Jump? You're no Mario Brother, I can tell you that."

Elise was tired of this man. Tired of his constant kidnappings of her. Tired of the fact that it seemed there was nothing she could do about it. Down on the ground below, she could faintly see a blur of blue and red. Making up her mind, she did exactly what Eggman had 'suggested'. She leapt off the hovercar, straight towards the grassy valley below.

"Farewell!"

"HUH?" Eggman yelled. He wasn't expecting this, not at all. He was even more surprised when a red-clad plumber who had somehow obtained wings on his hat swooped in and rescued Elise. Mario flew back down, alighting next to Sonic and Yoshi, and setting Elise on Yoshi's back.

Mario reached into midair, a giant sparkling white feather appearing in his hands as the wings faded from his cap. "Get her to safety, Yoshi." He gave Yoshi the feather, and Yoshi gained wings on his back. Yoshi took off as fast as he could with Elise, leaving Mario and Sonic to face Dr. Eggman.

Eggman took a moment to send a message to Bowser, telling the Koopa to show up and help deal with these guys ASAP. As soon as they were out of the way, Elise would be easy pickings.

"Allow me to introduce you to my latest creation, Sonic!" Eggman said, pressing a button to have the Egg Genesis, a colossal four-armed orange robot, fly into their little battlefield and hove in the air, right near Eggman himself. "This is the Egg Genesis. I'm quite sure it's more than a match for you."

"Seriously, Egghead?" Sonic laughed.

"EGGMAN! YOU KNOW IT'S EGGMAN!"

"I could beat your bots in my sleep! And I've got Mario here, too. What do you plan on doing about that, huh?"

"I'm working on-" Suddenly, a massive flash of light appeared as Bowser dropped from the sky, a shining white gem in his hand. "… That. Your timing is impeccable, Bowser."

"Warping the fabric of space and time is no small feat," Bowser said, spinning his Chaos Emerald on a claw. "But, hey, I'm the big, burly, king of awesome! No big deal for ME. I'm here to… Level the playing field a bit. GWAHARAR! Today's the day you vanish, Mario!"

"To each their own?" Sonic asked.

Mario nodded, and dashed after Bowser.

"I was hoping for that!" Sonic dashed towards Eggman's newest mech, as the machine let out a few smaller badniks to try and take care of Sonic. These were just a simple flying model, nothing special about them.

Unfortunately for them, they were flying. Sonic jumped up, and homing attacked the bots repeatedly, landing on one of the Egg Genesis's arms.

"You little! Upper cannons, shoot him down!" The Egg Genesis didn't get a chance to follow Eggman's order, as Sonic was already bouncing on its head. It did manage to fling Sonic off, with the hedgehog landing gracefully back on the ground. The arm Sonic had run up had exploded, which gave him the hint that this thing wasn't built for close-up encounters. He could use that.

Mario, meanwhile, was facing off against Bowser. Bowser was using his Chaos Emerald to warp around Mario, teleporting to his heart's content. Every once in awhile, he'd cause a small shockwave with his weight or send his screaming jet-fire at Mario. Mario, of course, being very experienced with everything Bowser could throw at him, dodged everything. Bowser, despite his advantage, couldn't quite manage to dodge Mario's stomps. Mario managed to knock the Chaos Emerald out of Bowser's hand, but neither bothered going for it – Instead, they just traded punches and kicks, trying to get through each other's defenses.

"Give up, Mario!" Bowser yelled, as his punch was deflected by a powerful kick from the five-foot plumber. "You're never going to win, you know! Nothing can stand in my way this time!"

"Calling me and mio fratello nothing?" Mario asked, as he landed a kick on Bowser's knee. "We've been stopping you for five years, Bowser!"

"This time is different!" Bowser roared, as he and Mario met each other with blasts of fire.

The Egg Genesis had started shooting missiles at Sonic – At least twenty of them at once.

"Heh, time to pick up the pace?" Sonic asked. "Fine, be my guest! Catch me if ya can!" A plan forming, Sonic dashed over to where Mario and Bowser were fighting, standing between Bowser's back and the missiles, entering a spin dash. At the last moment, Sonic shot off, zipping in between two missiles and causing all of them to hit Bowser.

"GRAH!" Bowser stumbled, allowing Mario to land a solid kick to his stomach that sent him sprawling. "Watch where you're shooting those things!" He yelled as he got back up.

"Sorry!" Eggman yelled back. "I was trying to get Sonic! Wait, where did Sonic…"

Sonic had used the distraction to spin dash up one of the walls of the valley, and had leapt off of it, landing right on the Egg Genesis's head. He bounced on it a few times more, bringing another of its arms down. "Take that, Egghead!"

"You little…"

"Ever gonna finish that sentence, Egghead?" Sonic asked, as he dodged more missiles for his nemesis. He hadn't been able to get these to go to Bowser, but, oh well. Can't do everything.

Speaking of Bowser, he was not having fun with Mario right now. The plumber had decided to turn it into a hammer fight, powering up himself with a Hammer Suit. Bowser was matching each of his hammers with one of his own, glad that he shared this ability with Hammer Bros. But, in the end, Mario's reflexes were still better than his were – He dodged some of Bowser's hammers, prepared to throw some of his own towards Bowser's right arm… But instead just threw them straight at his head.

Bowser reacted quickly, but it wasn't quick enough – One of the four hammers still managed to whack him painfully in the nose.

He roared, and charged at Mario. Mario ran away, and Bowser grinned. Ha! He had the plumber now…

Sonic had his own issues – As it turned out, the Egg Genesis also had a giant laser that it kept shooting at him. But Eggman's designs proved themselves in the end, once again – They were stupid. It released more robots, and Sonic repeated the technique he'd used on the first arm – Homing attack, run, bounce.

"YOU HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG! STOP WINNING!"

"Yeah, how about no?" Sonic asked, grinning widely as he dashed up another valley wall. He dodged more missiles from Eggman, focusing on charging his own energy all the while. He wanted to end this with a bang, and he knew just how to do it. As a missile was about to hit him, he leapt off the wall, using said missile as a stepping stone to get closer to the Egg Genesis. He was able to land on the last arm, his body now glowing blue. He ran forward, right near the head, and unleashed the Light Attack. Sonic dashed around and through the robot so fast he couldn't be seen as more than a flash of blue, dealing utterly devastating damage.

He landed back on the ground, having taken out all four arms and the head of the robot. He thought he was done, before the laser started charging up again. He smirked, ready to take it out, but something else happened that prevented that.

While Sonic had been taking out the last two arms, Mario had been tricking Bowser. He'd run away from Bowser, just letting the giant Koopa keep up with him. He knew Bowser wouldn't see anything weird with that, and was counting on it. After a little bit of running, when he was sure Bowser wouldn't suspect a thing, he braked, pulling off a jump just as he turned around. He cartwheeled over Bowser, grabbing the Koopa's tail just as he landed.

"… Aw crud," Bowser said, as Mario started swinging him around like some massive, living hammer. Once he'd built up enough speed and Bowser was facing the right way, Mario let go – Flinging Bowser straight into the Egg Genesis, which of course had no chance of surviving being hit by a gigantic, two-ton, near-invulnerable Koopa. It exploded, flinging Bowser into Eggman's Eggmobile and both far away from their location.

"Aw, yeah! That's how it's done!" Sonic yelled, doing a breakdancing victory pose. Mario joined in, with a peace sign and a "Mario's number one!"

"Better catch up with Yoshi, now," Sonic said, about to take off. He stopped, though, when he noticed the white Chaos Emerald by his foot. "Oh, right. Don't wanna forget this!" He picked it up, storing it… Wherever he puts it, and he and Mario took off for the jungle Yoshi had headed into.

Surprisingly to Mario and Sonic, they were met with minimal resistance in the jungle – They easily managed to catch up to the still-winged Yoshi and Princess Elise, who were resting in a clearing with a lake, and a beautiful tree in bloom.

"Sonic! Mario!" Elise exclaimed, rushing to the two heroes. "I… I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. Rescuing me… And letting me see places, like this!" She gestured around to the beauty of the jungle around her. "I can't believe something like this is here… Have you ever visited wonderful places like this before?"

"Yeah," Sonic said. "It's what I do – I go to wonderful places, and stop Eggman from making them not-so-wonderful."

"And you've never seen anything like the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario said. "It's… My home, it's something you need to experience in person."

Elise nodded. "And… Once Bowser and Eggman are defeated… You're both going to leave, aren't you? And all your friends?"

Sonic didn't say anything, but simply nodded. It was true, he was going to leave… Evil never rests, after all.

"… Though I have been frightened many times, I must admit, I've enjoyed this adventure. I was able to be something other than a princess… I was able to be myself."

"I'm glad I was able to help that happen," Sonic said. "Even if the circumstances aren't the great. As long as people are safe and happy… Well, I am too."

"And me, as well," Mario said.

"But… I still love this country. Everything in it… Just as my late father and mother did…" Elise said. "… I have to be strong, for my people. Mario, Sonic… Remember this place, when you leave. I think… I'm ready to go back to the castle, now."

Mario and Sonic nodded, and Elise climbed back onto Yoshi's back. The three took off, back to the castle where Elise's subjects awaited her return.

Elise smiled, trying hard not to cry at the thought. These people had put aside everything… Just to help her and her people. But she mustn't cry – A strong queen doesn't cry. She was still just a princess, but she had to be strong, for her people.