Chapter 47 A Ferocious Finish

Wendy hurried through the cavern, keeping both her eyes and her ears peeled. Kamek followed behind her, once again moving at a speed that his elderly body probably shouldn't be moving at. She made sure to stay close to him, leading him even though she didn't know where exactly she was going to find who they were looking for. Thankfully, her uncertainty disappeared when she heard talking. The noises grew louder and louder, and in turn, her excitement also grew. She sprinted until she found who she was looking for. There, each in an individual cell, were her brothers. Her heart pumped, and she couldn't help but smile. There they were, lined up one after the other. After all this time and all this worry, they were within her line of sight and ripe for the rescuing.

"Guys?"

A gasp that with no doubt belonged to Lemmy carried throughout the cavern. He peaked his head passed the bars of his cell. "It's Wendy! And Kamek!"

Larry, Morton, Roy, and Junior looked out too. All of their faces rose, even the face of the usually stoic Morton. Larry did quite a few double takes, clearly not really believing the sight his eyes showed him.

"Is this a dream?" he asked. "Have I gone mad from imprisonment?"

"No, you dummy!" Junior exclaimed. "We're actually being rescued! We're finally getting out of here!"

"That you are," Kamek said with a grin. He got out his wand and chanted an incantation. The doors of the cells glowed with a rainbow light before disappearing from existence. Once they were completely free, the Koopalings all rushed toward their sister. She embraced them with open arms, laughing with only the most blissful kind of relief. Each one of them hugged her back, even Larry and Junior. Standing right here, with the brothers who she and her friends had risked a lot to save…it was honestly….it was honestly…

Before she even knew what was going on, Wendy started crying. The tears came down her face in a wave, which only grew stronger the longer she heard her brothers talk. She tried to stop, tried to make it so that she didn't soak the others. But she couldn't help it. Being surrounded by most of them, being in this moment of relief and reunion…she really couldn't help herself.

"Are you okay, Wen?" Morton asked.

Wendy sniffled and dried a tear from her eyes. "Sorry. I…I just…when I heard that you guys got kidnapped by Fawful and Cackletta…part of me really worried I would never see you again. So…you guys being here…"

Roy smiled. "Oh, I get it. It's happy tears." He moved his brothers to the side and embraced Wendy again, giving the hug the type of squeeze that only a big brother like him could give. "It's okay, Wendy. We're here, and it's all thanks to you!"

Wendy laughed. That was probably the most unbelievable part.

"Wendy!"

Wendy looked up. She saw Ludwig and Iggy at the end of the corridor, with Kamek standing right next to them with his wand still glowing a little (he must've removed some spells from them). The two of them rushed over to her (Ludwig doing this via his flying powers). When they got over to her, they gave her big, bright grins. They also looked at the others in the same way.

"Wendy, you actually came to save us!" Iggy exclaimed. "That is just downright amazing!"

"It certainly is!" Ludwig lowered himself on the ground and gave Wendy a hug, similar to how the others had done just a few minutes ago. "You really did good, Wendy."

"Thanks," Wendy said, her face growing warm.

"So you took care of Cackletta and Fawful?" Iggy asked.

Wendy nodded. "Their…" she cleared her throat. "Their dead bodies are in the other room."

Everyone else's grew wide, all looking shocked. Except, of course, for Larry.

"Woah, sick! I've gotta see that!" He almost bolted away, but Morton stopped him by grabbing hold of the rim of his shell.

"Not so fast, my little psychopath," Morton said to the youngest. "I don't think a dead body is something anyone wants to see."

Wendy sighed. "No, it most certainly isn't." She smiled again despite the protesting pouts on Larry's face. "But…we're all here." She wiped another tear from her eye. "The Koopalings are all present, accounted for, and alive. This is great!" She gestured for everyone to join her in another bear hug, which everyone did without hesitation (well, Larry might have hesitated, but whatever). Wendy, at the center of the pile, allowed the warmth of this whole experience to wash over her. It was like a nice hot shower, something so invigorating that it made her feel like a completely new person.

"You certainly did well, Wendy," Iggy said. He pulled himself out of the hug. "But that's to be expected." He puffed out his chest and smirked. "Sure, you don't have my mental capacity, but you are the sister of a super genius, so it's only natural that you…"

Before he could even finish his sentence, all the male Koopalings groaned. "Dude!" Larrry exclaimed, sending a sort of glare in his direction. "You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?" Iggy asked. "I was just pointing out that Wendy almost matches my intellect…" his face fell. "Oh. You mean I'm being egotistical again." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry guys. I promise I'll continue to work on that."

All the boys stared at him in annoyance for a minute before Ludwig smiled and laughed. "Well, that's good Iggy. It's good you want to improve."

Iggy chuckled. "It seems that everyone has their areas where they need to improve. Even super geniuses."

Wendy smiled at him. "Yeah." Suddenly, something occurred to her. "Hey, where's Bowser?"

Everyone else seized up, looking like they had just watched the creepiest, scariest, most disgusting horror movie ever. "B…Bowser…" Lemmy's voice trailed off, and he looked extremely uncomfortable too.

"B…Bowser is…" Roy began. Before he could finish, Kamek's voice carried down the hallway.

"WHAT THE EVERLASTING FUCK?"

Wendy perked up and followed after Kamek's voice, all while the boys hesitantly trailed behind her. When she got to him, curiosity initially came over her. However, that curiosity was just as quickly replaced with disgust and nausea the second she saw her adopted father.

"Oh my God!" She put her hand to her mouth, her stomach churning so much it felt like it was going to explode. She wanted to turn away from the sight of Bowser's open chest, but at the same time couldn't. She only grew more sick when her brother's crowded into the door.

Junior approached, looking more worried than nauseous as he looked at Kamek. "Kamek, you will be able to fix Dad up, right?"

Kamek swallowed what Wendy could only assume was a nasty batch of vomit. "I…yes. He is still alive, so clearly some magic is involved. This is fixable." He cringed as he stepped closer to Bowser's form. "I just need to be very careful…"

He raised his wand, chanting an incantation that sounded strained and worried. He held his wand over Bowser's chest, wrinkling his brow in concentration as he forced himself to look at the open, pulsating heart. Wendy could just barely look at him long enough to see that Bowser's chest managed to close up. This made her less nauseous, but also more worried as she looked at Kamek's exhausted face and trembling hand. He was exerting a lot of effort into casting this spell. Wendy didn't know whether to feel worried about him overexerting himself or relieved that Bowser was getting fixed. Both emotions battled for dominance in her mind.

Finally, Bowser's chest was closed, with nothing to show for Cackletta's horrific tinkering to his body save for a scar running right down the middle of his chest. Kamek let out a breath, wobbling as Bowser's eyes fluttered open. The Koopa King bolted upright just as Kamek collapsed to his knees.

"What's going on? Where am I? Where are…?" He turned, noticing Kamek first off. "Kamek, are you…?" He looked over at the Koopalings, gasping as he did. "Kids! You're safe!" His brow furrowed. "But…how…?"

Roy grinned and took a step forward. "It was all Wendy." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "She kicked Cackletta's booty and sent her and Fawful to the Underwhere!"

Bowser's eyes grew wide. "Cackletta and Fawful!" He looked at Wendy in awe. "You…you fought against them?"

"Uh…yeah…"

Bowser's face rose miles high. "That's incredible!" He got up from the chair, wincing as he put his hand to his recently closed chest. That didn't stop him from giving his daughter a hug though, and a strong hug at that. "I can't believe you faced Cackletta and Fawful all by yourselves!"

Wendy hesitated. "Well, actually…" she pulled away from him. "I had a little help from my friends. Stormy, Peppy, Lilac, and Celia."

Roy gasped. "Wait, Celia? She's here too?"

Wendy nodded. "Yes…" her face fell and her heart sank. "But…she and all the others are unconscious…"

Roy gasped again, the sound dampened with fear. "No!"

Bowser grunted, once again putting his had to his chest. "Well…we shouldn't just leave the girls who saved us alone. Let's bring them back to the Castle with us so that Kamek can help heal them." He looked over in the magikoopa's direction. "Does that sound good to you?"

Kamek heaved, his breaths raspier than a smoker's. "S…sure…"

It felt as if a weight had been taken off Wendy's chest. Sure, she didn't want Kamek to kill himself via overexertion, but she was also relieve to hear her friends had a chance to recover. Hopefully they would do so smoothly…

Six hours later, all the Koopas were in the medical ward of Bowser's Castle. Peppy, Celia, Lilac, Stormy, Opal, Michael, Scale, and Wendy's half siblings all laid unconscious in the beds. Kamek stood over Adam at the moment, chanting a spell that served double duty by erasing any remanence of brainwashing and by helping him heal faster. He had done that for all the people laying in the ward, and Wendy had been there to watch all of that. The whole time, she kept her grip on the sacred stars around her neck. Call it superstition, but doing so made her feel somewhat better about their chances of coming back around.

Kamek exhaled once he finished with Adam. "I…I think I'm done." He got up, wobbling so much that he decided to use his wand as a cane. "Now, I don't know about you Wendy, but I'm going to go recover by taking a long long long nap."

Wendy nodded as he hobbled out of the room. She looked back at everyone, making her grip around the sacred stars tighter. "Please let them wake up," she whispered. "Please please please…"

RIght as she was about to close her eyes was when Roy came into the room. He kept his eyes on Celia's bed as he made his way over to Wendy. "They're still not awake yet?"

Wendy sighed. "Afraid not."

Roy whimpered. "Ohh…" he wiped some sweat off his brow and went over to Celia. "I really hope they wake up. The last time Celia and I were together was when I accidentally left her out to dry." He bit his lip as he took hold of her hand. "I don't want that to be my last memory with her…"

"It won't be, Roy." Wendy approached him. "Kamek's been working his butt off to make sure that everyone heals properly. Them waking up is pretty much a guarantee."

Roy didn't look nearly as convinced as he should be. "I hope so." He squeezed her hand. "Please wake up. Please!"

Wendy bit her lip. They were going to wake up. Oh, please let them wake up. Please…

Wait. Celia's eyelids fluttered. She…she was waking up! Both Koopalings looked at her with bated breath as her eyelids fluttered open and she looked into their faces.

"Wendy…" she looked up at her boyfriend. "Roy…"

Roy let out a breath, probably the most relieved breath Wendy had ever heard from him. "Oh, Cee!" He leaned down and hugged her. "I'm so sorry! I'm so happy you rescued us, but…oh, I'm so sorry!" He leaned over her face and kissed her on the lips. Celia gladly returned the gesture.

Right at that moment, moans could be heard from everyone else. Wendy looked and saw everyone waking up. Adam and Gabby were the first to fully come around, and they blinked like they had been in the dark for years.

"W…where am I?" Adam drolled.

Wendy sighed in relief; they were no longer brainwashed. She approached them, smiling at her half siblings. "You're in Bowser's Castle. We decided to patch you up."

Michael, Opal, and Scale came back around too. "W…what happened?" Scale asked. He put his hand to his head. "T…the last thing I remember is a beanish person coming into the plane…"

Wendy looked over at the adults. "You were brainwashed for a little bit. Kamek removed the spell, thankfully."

Opal gasped. "Brainwashed?"

"Woah!" Michael exclaimed. "That's awful!" He put his hand to his chin. "Might be good in a book though…"

Last but not least, the three other members of the Ferocious Five came around. Wendy beamed as they sat up in bed.

"W…Wendy," Stormy said.

"What happened?" Lilac asked.

Peppy looked Wendy right in the eye. "Did…did we stop Cackletta?"

Wendy smiled. "We did. The royal family is safe and sound."

All symptoms of grogginess vanished as Peppy's face rose. "WOO!"

"We did it?" Lilac did a double take. "I…I can't believe it!"

"Believe it, baby!" Peppy exclaimed. "The Ferocious Five saved the day!"

Wendy beamed, her heart welling up with some form of pride. "Yep!" She put her hand to her heart. "And we did it together. That's what makes it so…"

RIght at that moment, the door to the medical ward knocked. Wendy blinked and turned to Roy. "Who's that?"

Roy stood back up, all without letting go of Celia's hand. "It's the girls' parents. Bowser let them know what happened to them."

Right as he said that, the door opened. In walked Celia's mother and father, Ruby and Singe. "Celia!" they both cried in unison. They approached her bed. "Oh, sweetie, we were so worried!" Ruby exclaimed.

The parents of Lilac, Peppy, and Stormy came into the room too. This was when Wendy decided to step out; this seemed like a personal moment for them. She snuck out of the room, all while the exclamations of relief and worry from the parents echoed in her ears.

While standing on her balcony, Wendy watched the sunset. As the oranges and pinks seared themselves to her brain and even her soul, she took off the sacred star necklaces and held them i her hand. She smiled down at them, thankful that they were able to be found and used. Sure, she hadn't liked killing people with them. But even then, she couldn't deny that they had proven to be very useful in the long run. Even without them, her friends had acted very brave; braver than she had ever thought a person could be. She really did owe a lot to them; in many ways, they were the perfect wielders of the stars.

"Wendy?"

Oh, what do you know! Wendy turned, smiling when she saw the rest of the Ferocious Five coming out onto the balcony themselves.

"Hey guys! How are you feeling?"

"Well, we're not unconscious anymore, so that's a plus," Lilac joked.

Stormy snickered before making eye contact with the princess. "We're considerably better, thank you."

Wendy's smile turned into a grin. "That's great to hear. I was…I was kind of worried a while back…"

Peppy laughed. "Wendy, it's gonna take more than a couple blasts from a crazy witch to kill us."

"Yeah," Wendy said. "Evidently." She looked back up at the sunset, and the girls crowded around her to get a look at it too.

"Beautiful," Celia said.

"It certainly is." A question rose up in her mind. "Are Scale and my family…"

"They're okay," Stormy said. "As a matter of fact, they went home. Michael talked about a new idea for a book while Scale said he was more than happy to return to teaching at the university."

"Yeah," said Celia. "He seemed to think that actually being able to see the sacred stars in person gave him a form of closure that he didn't know he needed."

Wendy nodded. "That's good." Something immediately occurred to her. "That reminds me!" She handed the necklaces back to their rightful owners.

Peppy's jaw dropped. "Thanks Wendy!" She put her necklace back around her neck and puffed out her chest. "Man, I feel so powerful now!"

"Yeah,' Lilac said as she put her own necklace back on. She sent a furrowed brow in Stormy's direction. "It's just too bad Stormy has to return her star in a couple days."

"Yeah," Stormy said with a nod. She looked at Celia. "And it's unfortunate that we didn't get the Earth sacred star for Celia."

Celia nodded, not really looking dejected but also not looking too incredibly joyful either. Regardless, Wendy still gave all four of her friends the proudest look she had probably ever given to anyone.

"Even still, everything and I mean everything you guys did on the mission was incredible. You…you acted like the exact kind of heroes that not only I needed, but also my family needed. Plus, you were always there for me, always willing to risk a lot when you really didn't need to. Every single one of you gave it your all." A tear trickled out of her eye. "You are all the best friends that someone like me could ask for."

Everyone else smiled back, their own eyes growing misty too. "Well," Stormy said, "I'm glad we could help you, Wendy."

"And hey!" Peppy said. "Sacred stars or no sacred stars, we're the still The Ferocious Five. And we're prepared to take the world by storm!" She put her hand out. "We're a team, right guys?"

"Yes," Stormy said as she put her hand on top of Peppy's.

"Definitely," Lilac said as she did the same thing.

Celia smiled. "Being around you guys…it was one of the most exciting experiences I've ever had." She put her hand out. "I think it's safe to say that you're my friends too?"

Peppy beamed at her. "Of course! Was that ever in question?" Celia giggled as Peppy looked back at Wendy. "Well, join in, Wen!"

Wendy nodded and put her hand in. Now, the whole Ferocious Five was together, and Wendy couldn't be happier. "To a group of five best friends…and whatever crazy adventures life decides to throw at us next."

The Ferocious Five all grinned and raised their hands.

"WOO!"

AN: I…I can't believe it. It's finished. The one story that I thought I would never be able to reach the end of…is actually, legitimately finished!

WOOHOO!

Man, this was a ride. A bumpy one too; there were times where I thought writing this was difficult as hell. And sure, some of it maybe a little messy. But you know what? I'm still happy. Overjoyed, as a matter of fact.

Thank you to everyone who supported me and this fanfic over the last two years. I'm very happy we got to FINALLY see the end of it together. What did you think about it in the end? Did you like the project that turned out to be my second longest story ever?

Be sure to check out other Super Koopalings episodes if you're interested. And hey, stay safe and stay awesome :)