Next chapter done!

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Chapter 21: The last two Star Children

Upon returning inside Bowser through the pink pipe, Starlow immediately calls for him:

"Hey! Can you hear us?! We need your advice!"

"Owwwch… Oh man, my… Ow… My back hurts…" Bowser groaned.

"Back? You hurt your back?"

"I can't move at all… Owwwch ouch ouch… Do… Do something now… I mean… Do something…please."

"Oh, for crying out loud… You are such a pain…"

"Starlow, don't be so mad. After all, we can find a way to fix him." Peach said.

The heroes made their way to the Lumbar Nook, located obviously in Bowser's lumbar vertebrae. The ground and the background were the same, showing the cells of the lumbar vertebrae, some were lit and the others weren't. Upon arriving in this area, they saw Toadsworth!

"Well, fancy meeting you here, Princess and Masters Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and DK… Whatever brings you all to a place like this, hm? It's quite odd—for some reason this place soothes my soul… Ho ho… I feel rather at home, like it's my very own room!" Toadsworth said.

"Never expected him to say that…" Luigi thought while tilting his head.

"We're here so that we could find a way to fix Bowser's back. He somehow ended up hurting it." Mario explained.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, the floor here did just darken and become rather hard. No doubt Bowser's back injury is the cause." Toadsworth replied. He walks to a suspicious spot at the middle of the area and looks down while speaking: "Ah, indeed, quite right. This strange protrusion appeared only moments ago, as a matter of fact."

"Eh?" Mario tilted his head. He decides to walk to the protrusion in the ground and inspect it. "I think… I think I and Luigi can stimulate this spot."

"We can? How?" Luigi asked.

"By using Drill Bros, duh! We can dig under this narrow hole and find Bowser's pressure points to heal his back!"

"Good thinking, bro!"

Mario and Luigi stood over the protrusion and used Drill Bros to dig under.

"HO HO!" Toadsworth exclaimed. "I daresay it's working! Yes, sloooowly working!"

"Does this means this will take a while?" Yoshi asked.

"I think so." Peach answered. "Say, while we wait for the Mario Brothers, why don't we enjoy a nice and relaxing cup of tea?"

"Hey, that sounds good!" Starlow replied.

Peach then made some tea for everyone as they all sat down to have a conversation together.

"*slurp* Ahhhh! Princess, your tea never fails to calm me down. Teatime is so restful…" Toadsworth remarked once he took a sip of his tea.

"Quite right. Teatime is for taking a break from all cares." Peach replied.

The group was relaxing, taking their time drinking Peach's tea.


A few seconds later…

Just then, they saw a faint golden glow in the ground as they started to hear some heartbeat sounds echoing around. They all stared especially at the golden glow in awe.

"Oho! Is Master Mario and Master Luigi almost done with the job?" Toadsworth wondered.

"Hold on! That glow…" Peach's eyes widened. "Are they coming from Mario and Luigi?!"

"I believe so! But I didn't give any blessings to them at all! That glow just came out of nowhere!" Starlow stated.

"Does this mean that… Mario and Luigi are…"

All of a sudden, the whole place brightened up again, and Mario and Luigi came back from the ground.

"I…suddenly felt a large amount of energy while healing Bowser's back…" Luigi breathed.

"Me too! Just what was that?" Mario questioned.

"Mario! Luigi! You did it! You healed Bowser's back!" Yoshi chirped.

"Good job on that." Suddenly, Melissa's voice was heard.

"What the-… Melissa?" Yoshi piped up.

Then, a sparkling pink hologram of Melissa descended towards the heroes.

"W-Who are you?!" Toadsworth asked.

"Fear not, Toadsworth. I am Melissa, princess of the stars." Melissa spoke.

"How are you able to communicate with us?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Star people are able to separate their consciousness from their bodies in order to communicate with anyone further away from them. It's sort of like telepathy, but with our bodies showing. I am afraid that Fawful has already taken over my castle and Midbus and Viverna took me into Toad Town Caves and are now working on breaking the seal on the Dark Star. It will take a while for the seal to be completely broken, so you still have time."

"Well, we decided that Bowser should storm the castle rather than us. But could you explain the event that happened earlier before Bowser's back was healed?" Starlow begged.

"You see, I was the one who gave the blessing to Mario and Luigi so that they could heal Bowser's back much faster than normal."

"Wait, are you telling us that I and Luigi…" Mario said astonished.

"Yes. Mario, Luigi, you are the two remaining Star Children. The ones that Fawful doesn't know about. Now that all of the seven Star Children are revealed, you should team up and do your best to defeat Fawful and the Dark Star!"

"You can count on us!"

"Then I shall part for now. I hope I'll be able to communicate with you all again. Farewell." Melissa's hologram vanishes.

"Wow, who knew that we were the last two Star Children?" Luigi said surprised.

"So Peach, Bowser, DK, Yoshi, Wario, Mario and Luigi are the seven Star Children!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we must prevent the Dark Star for absorbing our powers." Peach stated.

"Uh oh… Guys, I just realized something. I think we made a mistake." Mario warned.

"What mistake?" Wario raised an eyebrow.

"Now that we know all of the Star Children, then that means Bowser is going to carry all of us into the castle and the Dark Star will probably find us!"

"Oh that's right! That could be a problem…" Starlow spoke with worry. "But now it's too late. Now that we healed Bowser's back, we'll have to risk going into the castle together."

Back outside, Bowser suddenly felt his back healed in an instant.

"OOOOH! My back! It's loosening up!" he yelled in excitement. He was able to stand up easily, and then does some arm stretches, and flexes his knees. "Oh yeah, baby! Limber as ever!"

"Don't get too excited, or you'll throw it out of whack again!" Starlow warned.

"I'll stretch if I wanna! Besides, I feel even BETTER than I normally do! Check this out!" Eventually, Bowser curled up into a spiky ball. "I'm super flexible! I can do this now!" he starts rolling around the junkyard.

"Whoa! Looks like my and Luigi's power of the Star Children really did some changes in Bowser's back!" Mario said astonished.

"Say what? You and Green 'Stache are Star Children?" Bowser stopped rolling as he got out of the pile of junk and asked.

"We are! I guess with our power, we made your muscle loose and incredibly limber!"

"Hm! That's so awesome! So, uh…guys! Where am I and what happened?!"

"You are at my castle's backyard." Peach answered.

"Really?! Whoa! How'd I end up here?!"

"Listen Bowser, Fawful's minions managed to capture Melissa and are now using her to break the seal on the Dark Star. You might have a few minutes to reach her castle and beat Fawful before the Dark Star's seal breaks. I'm warning you; be careful of the Dark Star. We can't let it absorb our Magical Stars sleeping inside our hearts!"

"Oh, you mean the Star Children?"

"Yes! I, you, Yoshi, Wario, DK, Mario and Luigi are the seven Star Children, and darkness will fall in the whole Mushroom World if the Dark Star absorbs our power! I feel that the Dark Star is awakening… You need to infiltrate Melissa's Castle as fast as you can!"

"You don't need to tell me that, Peach! I owe that Fawful big-time! I'll storm Melissa's Castle immediately! So how do I reach her castle?"

"Head into the green door next to where you woke up. You'll find a road made of stars leading to the skies. That is a shortcut that we opened back then leading to Melissa's Castle without having to traverse Star Hill."

"Alright, got it! I'll be heading there!"

Bowser walked out of the junkyard and found the green door that Peach mentioned. He goes through it, emerging in the circular field where the road of stars was. With no time to waste, Bowser walked over the road, taking him to Star Shrine aka Melissa's Castle. Nothing has changed from the outside, but the same cannot be said from the inside. Bowser bursts open the front doors and walks in.


Melissa's Castle, now taken over by Fawful, looked a bit dull and dark because of the remodeling, the small cracks on the floor and the not perfect repairs with metal plates everywhere. The stained glass windows had Fawful's face printed on them, as well as on the deep pink platforms. Some of the columns with water flowing in were knocked down, showing all of the water spilled on the floor, wires, pipes and cables were attached to the walls and ceiling, green banners of Fawful's face were hung, there were extra platforms, traps and fences blocking some portions, and some specific rooms have changed drastically, like for example, what used to be the meeting hall became a dining room and so on.

"Man, what a remodel…" Bowser looked around. "Alright, time for me to find that bastard Fawful!"

He begins to explore around the castle that didn't feel as magical as it was before the takeover. The common enemies wandering around the many rooms were Naplocks, Alarm Bob-ombs, Dark Trashures and Dark Fawful Guys.

Later, after reaching a certain room at the second floor of the castle, Bowser saw two Fawfulcopters holding a blue and a red key in their domes.

"Fawfulcopters!" Bowser smirked. "Oh, hey, look what happened! Bowser's in Melissa's Castle! You were so full of yourself! Told you I'd make it here! GWAHAHA!"

The Fawfulcopter holding the Blue Key made a mouth come out from its bottom and Fawful's voice came from it:

"Fawful won't lie. Fawful has shock at you getting here, a nearly impossible place to reach. But that shock turns into chortles as you stop here! There are two doors here that need keys, and Fawful has them! You will wander forever in my modified castle of Melissa until you cry from lack of doors!"

"Pfft!" Bowser scoffed. "I'll break 'em down!"

"You have energy like a little angry battery with no friends. But even if you get past the doors, the castle of Melissa… Oh, but I have secrecy! Fawful says no more!" the Fawfulcopters then scatter around the castle. "Are you catching my Fawfulcopters?"

"That bastard…" Bowser muttered.


Hours of finding the keys later…

Bowser finally recovered the Blue and Red Keys from the castle. They looked similar to the Green Key, except that their bow was a star instead of a mushroom. Bowser decides to open the red door first, so he uses the Red Key on the red door. On the other side, he found his Magikoopa Troop trapped inside a cage as they were exclaiming:

"YOU GUYS! The door opened!"

"King Bowser!"

"OVER HERE! HEEERE! WE'RE OVER HEEEERE!"

Bowser punches the cage in order to free his last captured troop.

"JOY!"

"We who are not worthy of the mighty Bowser's personal rescue must honor him…"

"We, the Magikoopa corps, have attempted to find a suitable way to express our deep gratitude…"

"And so we hereby present an invigorating and inspiring dance of utter joy and happiness…"

"No, wait. We talked this over, Jerry, remember? We were gonna sing a song of Bowser praise?"

"Forget it, minions! Let's get a move on!" Bowser demanded. But even turning back, the Magikoopas were still discussing:

"Just a sec. I thought we'd build a monument to his strength!"

"No, we were going to make his favorite food, right?"

"Not me—I voted for polishing his horns with velvet shammies…"

"We DECIDED this, remember? It was foot massage all the way!"

"I still think that taking lutes and singing praises is sweet…"

"Is flossing his teeth still on the table? Because they are NASTY."

"No kidding. In fact, we should do a full orthodontic overhaul."

"OK, we'll have the Author hit the cavities, then deploy two-…"

"QUIET! MOVE IT!" Bowser yelled in impatience. "And WATCH that fourth-wall breaking!"

"KOO-RAH!" the Magikoopas saluted.

With that, the Magikoopas joined Bowser's army, allowing him to use a move in battle called Magikoopa Mob. Bowser proceeds further into the castle.

To be continued…


Now all of the seven Star Children are revealed! Please review.