Chapter 12: The Toxic Storm

I enjoyed the comfort of the Nimbus Bus' cloud covered seats as we rode upward towards Nimbus Land. My arms were laid back against my head, and the fluffiness meshed well with my skin and caused me to let out a joyous hum. But even as I was enjoying this period of tranquility, the real danger was coming closer with each passing second. The driver was unaware of the realm we were about to enter, and even I had no clue about what would happen when a Nimbusian came in contact with the "Midnight Channel". The driver had been suspiciously quiet ever since he picked me up, but he obviously knew who I was, so getting him to listen should be a piece of cake.

I folded my body forward, resting my arms in a fold on my kneecaps before lifting one eye up and saying to the driver, "Hey, can I ask you something real quick?" The driver peeks his head to the right slightly so one eye can stay on the sky in front of the vehicle as he responds with a "Y-yeah, shoot." In a somewhat nervous tone of voice. "Did the Master tell you why I want to go to Nimbus Land?" I quickly say after taking his attitude into consideration. "N-No. He told me that you would tell me when the time was right. Though he did mention that your reason had something to do with why I suddenly woke up in my bus in the middle of a grassland…"

"Well, to put it in simple terms, there is currently a reality warping alien in control of Plit, and he has probably turned the area around Nimbus Land into a realm that puts everyone but me under his control. He also robbed me of my powers, so I'm going to the Sky Temple to restore that element and return the sky to its normal state." Admittedly, even putting it as nicely as possible, there was no way to stop the driver from freaking out and nearly swerving the bus off its proper course with a quick, nervous turn of the wheel.

I kept in my seat with nothing more than my own force of will, but by the time the disruptions came to an end the driver had flattened the vehicle in the middle of the air and halted its movement entirely with a simple step on the brakes. He turned around past the seat and looked at me if I was a lunatic. "Are you crazy?!" Since he couldn't read my mind though, he had to vocally express what I already knew he was feeling. "If I get put under someone else's control, then who is going to drive you the rest of the way to Nimbus Land?!"

"I should be able to manage with my water powers, especially since you have a solid surface for me to launch myself off of." "And where does that leave me exactly? I doubt the first thing that alien is going to focus on is using me to keep the vehicle afloat. He'll try and have me kill you!" The driver had a pretty good point, but at the same time I had a counterargument to give him. I stood up with confidence and with my eyelids calmly closed I said to him, "Even if you become a zombie like the Toads did, I will pick you up and bring you up safely to Nimbus Land. I'll just carry you in a water orb so you don't try and chomp my flesh off."

As I open my eyes I noticed that the driver was starting to calm down. He caught his breath to keep himself steady, and after a heavy sigh he looks at me with more confidence found because of my vow. "You sure it will work?" He still asked one more question to make sure that I was telling the truth, probably because he couldn't read me with my eyelids shut. So I kept them open this time and firmly said to him, "Yes." "Alright then. Sorry for not believing you." The Nimbusian apologized and smiled at me before he turned around and revved up the engines with a turn of the key.

I sat back down and felt as the vehicle slanted upward and started to rise forward once more. It was a slow ascension, but it gave me enough time to think about what will happen a little further. It'll be now problem for me to save the driver if he is a solid form, but what if he turns into vapor? That is entirely possible, and that's not something I can exactly contain in water without killing him. I opened the window and looked out. I could see the monochrome realm approaching us in the distance. The driver still moved towards it, even increasing the speed of the vehicle to further express his trust in me.

"Alright, better get ready…" I stood up and hung onto the back of the chair, drawing my sword into my left hand before saying to myself once more, "I'm transforming on my own terms now…" I pulled the blue trigger casually without a second thought, defying Mr. Reality's control over my powers as an orb of water consumes my body whole. The sparkling liquid departs into my now held trident in seconds, leaving me wearing a light-blue vest with a white t-shirt underneath it. My jeans had turned into dark-blue latex pants, with a belt wrapped around the waist that holds a short mage's staff in a holster separate from the one that would hold my trident. There is a Japanese symbol for "Ocean" on the left side of my vest, and from a reflection in the steel pole in front of me I could see that my eyes had become a blue-green color my hair now having the same color as that of a clear afternoon sky.

By the time I had noted the details in my new appearance, the cloud's colors had become completely absorbed into that of the "Midnight Channel's". All the was left unaffected was myself, as usual. The bus driver grew silent as the vehicle continued to move on its own towards the end destination. I saw his right arm lower away from the wheel, the rest of his body falling backwards against the seat before it eerily begins to disintegrate. "Oh no…Don't tell me." As the body then starts to shrivel into nothingness, an ethereal gas is excreted from the cloudy skin, a quiet, low-pitched shriek increasing in magnitude and number as its form grow larger with each passing second.

I reacted with fear, an understandable emotion considering how the cloud suddenly expanded to encompass my only way out. I tried to back away, but my feet were frozen, paralyzed thanks to an oblivious brief inhaling of the air. The gas was edging closer, and deep within this formless force I could see some jagged yellow eyes peering into me. My body stiffened, and I suddenly felt nauseous as fear gripped me tighter. I could've easily cut off the cloud from my body with a wall of water had I not made the mistake of breathing when it was not necessary.

Was it a type of poison that was making my body sweat as much as it was? Or was it the overwhelming fear that was pushing me towards a breaking point? I had no answer, only that I felt that I wasn't going to survive this encounter if I kept standing around any longer. "Headstrong determination, that's what keeps me going…" Remembering the one trait that kept me alive through all other troubles dispelled the fear in my body, but the cloud had nearly consumed me and I was still growing weaker by the second. I wouldn't give up though, not until I fell to my knees with my weapon planted to the ground.

It seems as though my defiance was being heard by the gods though, for a familiar bright light shines out from the middle of Nimbus Land and consumes the vehicle whole. The next thing I know, I'm suddenly creaking my eyelids open, my vision pointed towards a smog covered grey sky as I feel the comforting surface of a massive cloud rubbing against all sides of my body. My arms and legs had been forcibly stretched out, and I could feel a faint presence standing beside me. I turned my head, and who else would be there but the Chronicler in all his robed glory.

I was puzzled, there were many things that weren't fitting together simply because of his appearance. First of all, my body felt completely healed, as if the poison or whatever the heck that cloud was composed of had never entered at all. Second, as I lifted my head up I looked around and noticed the vacant houses and palace of Nimbus Land behind me, meaning that I was somehow taken out of the vehicle that was now resting on the surface far away from my body. Finally, there was the fact that I even sensed energy coming from the Chronicler. No matter how faint it was I never detected anything before.

I raised myself up off the ground, turning my body towards the being as I sat and waited for him to say something. "So you are awake…Good, for a moment there, I thought the purging of those toxins wouldn't prove to be successful." He says in his usual, mysterious tone of voice. "Wait…" I say as I hold my forehead with a bit of wooziness being felt from my sudden lifting motion. "You did what now?" My inquiry was met with a chilling chuckle and the Chronicler's arms being folded into his robes. "I used my mystical powers to force the toxins to be excreted through your sweat glands. You know, if you had a viable amount of time to do so, even you could do the same thing with your water powers."

The only thing I could say at first was "Thanks", since without his help I would've died in the bus like a chump. But then I inquired to him, "How did you get the bus up here? Did you also use magic?" My second sentence was dripping with sarcasm, but the Chronicler merely took it in stride and responded with his own humorous quibble "No, I just phased through the vehicle, took a solid form for a few minutes, and unfroze the bus from time so I could drive it up here." Admittedly, I did laugh at it before I got back on my feet and turned to look down at the being.

"But seriously, once again you saved my life. I don't really know how I can repay a spirit, but if I manage to find a way I will." I said with a deep feeling of gratitude towards the man. "It was the right thing to do." The Chronicler stated truthfully. "Now, I need to fill you in on the situation plaguing Nimbus Land." I looked towards the smog, especially since I knew that was going to be the topic of our discussion. The Chronicles tilted his head up as well and began expositing. "The 'Midnight Channel', as you so decidedly called it, has turned all the Nimbusians into a deadly toxin cloud that paralyzes, poisons, and inflicts fear onto anything that it can slip itself into. No one is immune to it, but for the moment it is at the most subdued stage in its evolution."

I lowered my head down in surprise and confusion. "Wait, evolution? You mean this thing is…" The Chronicler interrupts me with, "A sentient being…That is correct. Worst of all, with each stage in its evolution, the cloud will adapt to anything that can stop it or purge it from the body in its previous state. Which means my method won't work if it were allowed to evolve. Worst of all, if my calculations are accurate, in a matter of hours the smog is going to advance towards the surface to destroy anything that can take in its body. But this will only affect everyone still under the influence of this realm, which consists of five-sevenths of the planet."

I knew what the Chronicler was getting at right away. He was talking mass genocide via this toxic storm, and the only way to stop it was to restore Nimbus Land and its inhabitants before it could spread. "So I need to get moving towards the Sky Temple then…" As I stated this obvious fact I realized something and began to worry almost immediately. My vacant eyes were noted by the Chronicler, who said, "What is wrong, Overlord Mewmaster?" In a surprisingly nurturing tone of voice.

"The Sky Temple only appears at the strike of noon. It is currently about eleven o' clock if I'm right in my assumption…I can't wait another hour for the temple to appear, the smog will identify and kill me within seconds of you dropping your time freezing spell." Surprisingly, the Chronicler was not intimidated by my concerned behavior. He folded his arms into his cloak and quickly offered an answer to my predicament. "The Sky Temple works like a sundial, moving around Nimbus Land with the shifting of the suns rays. It was outfitted with a time related spell that makes it visible only at a specific time since that is when the sun would be perfectly aligned with the temple itself. However, with time being of no consequence at the moment in this realm, the temple is…Well, just look above and behind you for a moment."

I did just as he suggested, turning my body around and poking my head upward to see exactly what he said I would. The underside of the floating temple was looming above, just in reach for me if I were to use my water powers to launch myself off from the roof of the nearby house. "Well would you look at that…" I stated to show that I was impressed with the Chronicler's correct deduction. As I turned around to thank him, he began to speak once more. "Remember the story I started the last time we saw each other? Do you wish to hear more of it before I leave?"

It was a surprising gesture, but one that was of little harm to me. After all, with time frozen I had plenty of…Well, time to hear him out. "Sure, go for it." I said. I could tell that the being creaked a smile behind the shadow's of his hood, but this one didn't reek of death like the previous one did. "Death and an eternal turmoil of the mind…It all started one otherwise harmless day. Everything was going well, the child had a good night's rest on the end of the previous day, he woke up to a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, he went to the park with his family, had a delicious picnic, and later a warm shower and a luxurious BBQ. All of this would lower anyone's guard to the troubles of tomorrow, but who would ever expect a kid to suspect any disaster to happen in his young lifetime?"

"The black shroud of night fell, illuminated by the stars of the cosmos, and the innocent cries of the owls signaled peace to all who heard them. But amidst the serenity of nightfall, a couple of parents took their child out to a Cliffside for their weekly stargazing. The child was particularly tired after this long, productive day, and with much consent from both parents he was brought back to the comfort of his car and the radio played a melodious tune that lured him into a slumber within seconds. It was a song that his mother had hummed to him many times before, but this time it was used as a prelude to a nightmare."

"What awoke him was not the sound of his mother or father's voice, but a deafening boom from outside the protection of the car. The child's heart skipped a beat, and he unlocked the door and jumped outside in a tired daze. His eyes widened in abject horror as he gazed upon the Cliffside and saw that it had burst into flames, a huge chunk of it missing thanks to an as of then unknown force of nature. The smoldering chunks of land that had flown onto the ground just barely missed the child, who was soon on his knees in frozen disbelief as denial and fear both gripped his fragile mind."

"His parents had died that very moment, but the boy was unaware of what transpired. Or rather, he refused to accept the chain of events that begun to warp his immature mind. But why should the suffering end there? The worst was yet to come, but I think I've said enough for now…" The Chronicler left the tale on the most tragic note, but I didn't get what he meant when he said that things were going to get worse. "Huh…" Was all I said after he was done, and the Chronicler responded with "I will reveal more when we meet again in front of the Lightning Palace. For now, it shall soon be time for time to resume its normal course, and I must be the one to return the flow with my departure."

"I just don't get it, for an observer, you sure are assisting me a lot more than I believe one of your nature should logically be allowed to." I brought up to the being as he raised his left arm into the air and drew his glowing orb from the confines of the sleeve. "It is because I believe in your destiny providing some interesting tales for future generations to look back at…" He said with an obvious sneer poking through thanks to the light of the orb. "After all, inspiration is the cornerstone of progress, the instigator that defies stagnation…Now then, I believe you have a job to do, yes?"

He was right. I couldn't just stand around pestering him with questions when he had a LOT of work to do. We both did, actually, but comparing the significance of our jobs was an impossible task. I quickly nodded to the Chronicler and used my acrobatic skills to launch myself onto the roof of the closest house I could get to, and kept my feet balanced on the bamboo rod border as the mysterious being gave me one last hint of advice. "Also, while the temple will maintain its solidified form so long as the 'Midnight Channel' is up, the moment you free this area from its grasp it will sink into its ethereal form unless you are there at noon. Which more than likely, you won't be."

I nodded to show that I understood his warning, and after turning towards the temple I bent down and arched my arms out beside me. I commanded a bundle of water to form and swirl below my body in the form of a shallow pool. My skin is unaffected by the touch of liquid in this form, and after a few more seconds of it rotating around my feet and thrust my arms upward. The sudden motion commands the water to become a powerful torrent that carries me upward towards the Sky Temple, the spiral staying condensed so long as I stay focused on it. I hold my arms out beside me now that the momentum had already been provided.

I never looked downward, but I stopped myself from breathing momentarily and closed my eyes as I passed through the smog of toxicity. I felt sorry for all the Nimbusians who were forcibly converted into his mesh of poison, fear and paralysis, and even though I knew that there was a survivor my knowledge came with the gripping fact that they were currently possessed by their "Shadow" to do combat with me. Mallow, the prince of Nimbus Land, was gonna be my opponent at the end of the temple this time. But at the start, I didn't know what to expect to be facing.

A flash of light covered the skies as I passed the smog, and time resumed to its normal pace as I continued towards the temple. I was safe from the toxins for now, but like every other temple beforehand this was going to be a one-way trip until I restore this land to its former glory. I did know one thing for certain, that was that the one way this trip was going to lead me towards was not going to be death. I heard a crackle as I went through my though process, and raised my eyebrow in suspicion. There was no way I should be hearing a thunderclap around here, especially since I'm going towards the Sky Temple.

And yet the sound ruptures the air again, and with a flash of light I see a sizzling lightning bolt heading my way. In my current form, I would be fried to a crisp, so I redirected the flow of the torrent of water so I would have a better vantage point to launch my body from. The lightning strikes the diagonal branch of water as I fly past the bolt and head towards the series of cloud platforms in front of the temple's entrance. My propulsion ended just in the nick of time, and I landed on the cloud to face the foe who fired upon me.

There was a 3x3 grid of puffy, wide, grey clouds with yellow eyes, and sitting on top of the middle cloud on the top row was a turtle-like creature with a small black shell, foggy white glasses, and arms raised above their head. I recognized the creature as Lakithunder, a Lakitu that, as the name suggests, can control electricity. Admittedly, this was NOT the type of opponent I wanted to be facing here, but considering the lack of notable Lakitus in the Mario-verse, it wasn't too surprising that Mr. Reality chose the one that could counter my water powers. As I swung my trident out from my holster, I thought to myself with my teeth grit in annoyance, "But really, why couldn't it have been Lakilester?"

The Thunder Hidden in the Sky: Sky Lord Lakithunder

The creature started the battle aggressively, slamming its palm into the cloud it currently controls to spark electricity in it. A few streams of the energy transfer swiftly to the cloud beside it, and move around sporadically so I have no real way of following it. Eventually I catch a glimmer coming from the eyes of the middle-right cloud and watch as it opens its mouth and fires a beam of electricity at me. It is composed of four different streams that coil together into a cylinder form, but the danger would be great even with one of them coming my way.

I jump diagonally backwards, watching as the creature sends another bolt flowing through the clouds, this time to one that is right in front of me. I quickly swing my trident in front of me to cut the air with three streams of water that blocks the shots at the cost of the ensuing explosion dragging my braced body across the ground a few feet. With the distance between me and the target increased and the electric bolts still targeting me, I had to speed up my thought process to come up with a countermeasure. The bolts were targeting the areas where I was standing at, that much was obvious. But to launch an attack myself I would have to see how much time it took between each shot being fired.

I increased my focus and paid attention to the electricity as it surged from the first cloud through a few others until it reached the one straight in front of me on the middle row. It fired out, and I backflipped in the air, keeping track of the seconds in my head as Lakithunder slams the cloud again and sends a bolt to the left of him, only for it to spiral around back to the same cloud before it fires at me as I begin to land. "Five seconds between each shot…" I locked in that estimated number and threw my trident out so it could conduct the electricity. After all, so long as I had my staff, I still had a connection to the elements.

The voltage coursed through the staff and was expunged out of the prongs in a short burst, leaving my weapon suspended in mid-air until it fell against the surface of the cloud. I landed on my feet and Lakithunder spread his arms up to open a hole beneath the trident to make it drop, thinking that I would no longer be able to use it if it was out of reach. But I commanded the weapon with telekinesis to stop spinning and arch around until it starts rising beneath me. All the while I fling a few streams of water outward with a flick of the wrists to stop the lightning streams as soon as they emerge.

Annoyed by my efforts, the Lakithunder pounds his cloud twice with both hands, a sound mimicking a bongo drum ringing through my ears as two lightning bolts thrust through the clouds and fire my way as streams. There is one coming straight at me while another is shot diagonally upright from it. This was clearly done to corner and fire bolts at me where I'd have no way of escaping. I leapt to the left to dodge the shot, extending my right arm out to pluck my trident out as it pierced the clouds. I stamped my feet into the ground to stop myself from going off the edge, just in time for the next bits of lightning to pass through the grid of clouds.

I wait for the next bolts to prepare to fire, one in front of me and another to the right of my feet, and then I hold my trident in mid-air, suspending it with my mind and spinning it like a saw blade with water erupting from all edges. The liquid discus absorbs the electricity and directs it towards the trident without causing a chain reaction. When the lightning has come to an end I cause the water to drizzle out and grab the trident after the voltage has dispersed, pulling the weapon into my hand and looking out towards my opponent.

I just needed one shot. Hit the main cloud right as it fires electricity and it'll fry the sucker to a crisp. It would be a swift but painful demise. Unfortunately, I had a short window of which to hit him with. He fired two streams of lightning at a time now, and all it takes was for one to hit me and I would be done for too. Five seconds between each attack, center of the top row. "Ok, time to do this…" I leapt out of the way of two streams that were fired from the lowest clouds, rolling across the main platform and swinging my trident across the air as I kneel down. A blade of water flies out and cuts through the bottom row of clouds with ease.

They don't disintegrate though, forming back together in a matter of seconds, but Lakithunder is forced to use the other rows to fire lightning blasts at me in the meantime. I duck under them, holstering my trident and with a swing of the arm creating an arced trail of water that would allow me to mesh into it and launch myself out above all the clouds. I keep myself kneeled, letting the water suck me in and gliding along the surface with my legs acting as a surfboard. At the end I thrust my body forward, spiraling around like a torpedo gently over the six streams of lightning that were launched from all clouds as soon as I left the surface of the cloud.

The electricity lasted for quite a while, but not a single part of my skin or attire even grazed the massive voltage. I spun my body forward to land on the very edge of the cloud, summoning forth a giant wall of condensed water to keep myself from falling off. The grid had been reformed, but I take the water I summoned behind me after getting my footing and launched it out in four different cylinder streams. The first two shoot forward through the bottom and middle rows, taking out the clouds with ease as the other two streams rise into the air and separate from each other before they descent in the form of cascading waterfalls that take out the two clouds beside Lakithunder.

That took all of ten seconds, and I theorized that no more electricity came out because the creature had used all the clouds at once. I jumped at the opportunity to end the battle as Lakithunder turned his cloud to me and swung it around his body multiple times, charging up for one final attack since the other clouds would likely not respawn by the time I attacked myself. But I was one step ahead of him, flicking my trident at him swiftly like a dart, the prongs impaling themselves right between the eyes and mouth of the cloud and stiffening its movements to an absolute halt.

The electricity is drawn into my golden weapon, and with one snap of the fingers in front of my slanted eyebrow face all the remaining water behind me is drawn around my form as liquid tendrils, launching themselves at the bottom of the trident's staff and swirling together into a drill-like tip that pushes through the weapon until it drags in the excess electricity and pushes outward through the prongs. Overfilling the cloud with water that had been poisoned by the voltage that was now coursing through it caused a massive chained reaction that was started with a bulge pushing outward from the backside of the cloud.

This is followed by multiple bulges appearing on all sides of its form, and the end result of this sensation is a all too quick burst that sends the Lakitu himself rocketing far away from the temple, alive but without his mode of transportation. The echoing pop that comes from the busted cloud forces my heart to pound against my chest once out of surprise, and I very nearly get cut across the face by my trident as it falls down in front of me. I should consider myself lucky that none of the electricity dripped liquid splattered into my face, since I actually hadn't accounted for what would happen to the cloud after my efforts had succeeded.

Either way, as I picked up my weapon and holstered it after a quick spin I looked towards the temple's entrance. As expected, the outer guardian was easy to beat and left me still raring to go against the inner guardian, and even with my reluctance I knew I would have to eventually consign to the fact that my friends would always be waiting for me at the end of each temple, controlled to combat me against their will. I never would be able to convert them back with reason, I would always have to use brute force. If I had another way of stopping them I would gladly use it, but that was a reality that would never come to be. I made my way to the temple entrance, my prayers being used to ask for my friend's forgiveness before I reached them once more…

Next Time: A Tyrant within a Princ