Clash of the Elements Part 3: Reality's Game

by mewmaster93

A year after the battles against the forces of darkness, Plit has enjoyed an era of peace. But the arrival of someone both new yet familiar signals the advent of a new threat, one that will twist the very fabric of the world. Can this new protagonist hope to survive this game, or will Plit forever fall into the hands of this unknown being?

16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A Torment Long Forgotten

I rocketed through the air, my body diving downwards like a missile as I neared Toad Town, arching into a straightened position so I was only two feet above the water's surface. At the speeds I was moving the air I carried with my caused the waters to rise upward on both sides of my body. My mind was steel, steadfast and determined to get to the Lightning Palace after the story I just heard. But even with this absolute focus there was still one thing that was seeping through into my mind and threatening to make me think differently about my charge. It was about Mr. Reality's morality.

He was keeping the remaining parts of the planet under the control of the 'Midnight Channel' and dragging many people against their will into his game. However, he has managed to prevent any "Shadows" from showing up besides the true selves that my friends show at the end of the temples, so its clear that he isn't looking to commit murder. Then again, he is being pretty casual in his manipulations of the conscious mind, and then there was Florence's story about what he did to the M.S.I. soldiers…But he has been pretty lenient to me on a couple of occasions thus far even though someone of his level of might shouldn't really be acting that way.

Really, my inner thoughts cause me to lose the steam I once had, which I guess is fine considering I was getting pretty close to my destination anyways. Looking out upon the horizon, I see a monochrome expanse of water around a small island with a staircase leading up to a temple surrounded entirely by storm clouds. "Alright, time to change forms again…" I drew out my sword with my right arm held out, pulling the grey trigger and watching as my vision becomes obscured by a veil of fog that quickly surrounds my body. I still have enough vision to know when I have passed into the 'Midnight Channel', but by then the transformation had been completed.

I landed on the edge of the island, the back of my newfound sandals dipping into the slowly rising tide behind me as I took a few steps forward and began to take note of my appearance. I was now garbed in a white poncho with trails of dark-blue cloths hanging down from my shoulders. It reaches down to my ankles, and both my hair and eyes have become light-grey in color, something I remembered from the last time I checked. In my right hand is a black scythe that has many bumps on its rod, each one filled with varying amounts of air that I could either use against or empty so I can take the air from my opponents.

Of course, the second one would be more useful in the hands of someone with a more sadistic personality than me, though it is not like I wouldn't use it to drop my opponent's stamina a bit and give myself a brief period of time to think out a strategy. Since I had arrived at this location and the outer guardian was only a stair climb away, I looked around and waited for the Chronicler to appear once more and tell me more of his tale. I didn't sense anything, not even a faint glimmer of his presence like I did at Nimbus Land. "Maybe he is busy chronicling someone else's life right now…"

Then again, someone with omnipresence really shouldn't have trouble making an appearance, it would only take them a nanosecond to arrive. But as the seconds passed I just gave up on waiting and started to move towards the staircase with a shrug of the shoulders. Suddenly, a flash of light covers my view from all sides, collapsing into itself behind me as I turn around and see the robed figure hovering gently over the shoreline with his orb withdrawn into his sleeve. He appeared more ghoulish the way he was floating now, but what was truly curious was that his presence was a teensy bit stronger than it was in the short time since we last met.

"What took you so long?" I asked, and with a coy smile beyond the shroud the Chronicler said to me "I wasn't expecting you to be here this early…My omniscience hasn't been as strong since that alien ripped apart the balance between the seven elements on this planet…" With his humble apology that completely contradicted his expression, the being inched closer to me, a light flashing out from the confines of his left sleeve before he suddenly vanished and appears behind me again, this time standing on the third step of the staircase. I turned around and wondered what was up with him, especially since he looked a bit wobbly for a spirit.

"You alright there?" I once again asked, this time out of concern. The Chronicler looks at me and steadies his body, the only thing moving on him being his mouth and his robe. "Remember how I said that reality benders can't interfere with the affairs of the undead?" I remembered that detail quite well, since it was one of the first things I questioned when I met the Chronicler. I nodded my head, since he wouldn't have known of my remembrance unless I did so. "Well what I meant was that he can't harm me directly…However, he has finally found out about my existence and is hounding me with creatures that CAN harm me if I were to let them. That's why I'm a bit dizzy, cause one DID get the jump on me…"

That was a bit discerning, that Mr. Reality was beginning to attack the one being who has been able to exist in the 'Midnight Channel' unaffected and help me throughout this journey. "Is it safe for you to even be here then? I don't want to end up having to fight anything that can harm you. I wouldn't stand a chance!" I voiced my concerns calmly but with my eyebrows raised to show concern through them. The Chronicler merely smiled at my concern towards him, and surprisingly, his grin felt humane compared to his otherwise eerie demeanor. "Don't worry, I'm positive the alien won't bring harm to you while you are still a part of his game, so long as he doesn't find out about what I've done to help you out so far…"

"So what you are saying is, you won't be giving out anymore advice or saving me from dire straits?" I inquired, and the Chronicler nodded inside of his robe. "It is unfortunate, but I can only imagine that the reason I was detected in the first place was because of the traces of tachyons I left behind whenever I frozen time." Tachyons being particles that are capable of moving faster than the speed of light and are considered to be used theoretically for time travel but are commonly used in fiction. Seriously, go look it up, its an interesting subject. "That makes sense…Wait a second, so that orb of yours allows you to control time?"

With my question comes a brief moment of silence and a forehead slap from myself for my oblivious stupidity. I really should have put two and two together sooner on that one. Instead of mocking me for missing the obvious though, the Chronicler merely got a laugh from my self-made answer and raised his left sleeve to his chin to rub it with his fingertips. "Heheh…I shall admit, I was not actually expecting you to figure it out." My offense at the remark against my intelligence not withstanding, I removed my hand from my face and looked at the Chronicler once more. "Now then, I believe you have some things you wish to take care of, since you came here so quickly and all…However, it is also time for the next part of my tale."

The Chronicler raised his left hand and let only the pointer finger stay raised as he looked towards me and began to open his mouth. But he stopped, garnering a raised eyebrow from me as the skies slowly darkened and a warm wind ruffled my poncho and his robe. The roar of thunder interrupted this quiet scene, but when it subsided the Chronicler said to me "I was debating whether or not I should tell you this part of the tale, especially when your mood is so bright…However, nothing else will make sense to you if I skip this part…So I shall begin in full now…"

"Having lost his parents to the unforgiving wrath of the cosmos, the child slipped into a state of utter shock. His mind failing to wrack the concept of death at that very moment, especially when it happened to the two people that cared for him so very much. He kneeled on the ground, wanting to scream but the fear and confusion deprived him of even that. It wasn't long though until someone reacted to the inferno that had been ignited on the Cliffside. It was the F.B.I., a technologically advanced faction that worked under the thrall of the government. They took the child away from the horrific scene, his eyes blank with no emotion, eventually falling unconscious from the strain of it all."

"He woke up two days later, thinking that everything was a nightmare that he would experience time and time again. He was brought to the central command room against his will, given no time to eat or wonder as to where he was. He was interrogated for information on the phenomena by the leader of the F.B.I., but he knew nothing, and demanded that he be allowed to see his parents. The sadistic man broke the news callously that they were dead, being told that Halley's Comet had fallen from the reaches of space suddenly and crashed into them. He was curious about just how it happened, but in the end forgot about it and never explored into the matter. He didn't care about two lost lives, all he saw was a child that was his entirely."

"After all, adoptions were not allowed, and with no registered relatives the Chief had gained every right to keep the child under his grasp. The nightmare was just beginning, but the child wished nothing more than to be free of it. He sought a savior, hoping that his parents weren't truly dead and would come to rescue him. Five days passed, and nothing happened…Nothing that helped the child be free from his fate, that is. No, with a week of starvation and a lack of rest under his belt, the child was pulled away from the steel plate the machines had the gall to call a bed and strapped to another one with a more honest title of "Experiment Table" given to it…"

"It was then that the Chief revealed something that was unknown to most mortals living on Earth. Many years back, an unknown cosmic phenomena merged the current Earth with another one, creating a fusion of histories between ours and that of a world from fiction. This very merging caused the second planet's inhabitants to start appearing all-around the surface, many of them anthromorphic in appearance. Seeing these invaders as a threat to their society, an army was mobilized to slaughter anyone who wasn't recorded in our databases. The bloodbath was massive, the largest one recorded in the Earth's new history."

"Eventually though the soldiers ran into some heavy resistance. Well-built, golden-haired warriors and a posse of other supernatural beings fought against the army, firing energy blasts from their hands and displaying speeds and flight capabilities that no one else had shown before. The army was completely overwhelmed, the Chief told the child, and the remaining soldiers retreated so they could analyze the battle data. The Chief mentioned that they found some interesting information on the beings that was now stored in the F.B.I.'s databanks."

"The golden-haired warriors were called Saiyans, legendary warriors who got stronger after every battle they managed to survive, and were capable of reaching even greater levels of strength with the golden-haired form called a 'Super Saiyan'. Intrigued by their abilities, the Chief said that he worked around the clock to come up with weapon that would incapacitate these beings so he could cultivate their DNA and use it to create a stronger type of human to use as an army. The plans were put in motion, and there was not a better time for them to do so than now…"

"When they went to strike them, the army found that the group had all gathered in front of a single building, using magic balls to call forth a massive dragon. They were about to ask it to revive all those who were killed, but the army struck quickly. The warriors stood no chance against their improved weaponry, which cut through even the toughest of skin and neutralized their latent abilities long enough for them to shut down their vital signatures. The dragon was sent away, its balls flying in all directions without a trace. The bodies were then dragged away, and in time the rest of the unknown humans and creatures were dealt with."

"Humanity would not forget this willingly though, so save for a few select people, the Chief sent out Nanomachines that infiltrated the minds of most of the populations and tore the memories right out of them. However, there was still a matter of the ethical code of testing on people. Children would be the best receiver of the DNA of the Saiyans, due to their potential as a youth, but to get them the Chief would have to play his cards right. So he manipulated the political system from afar, making it so adoption would be abolished. Once that was done, the Chief told the child that he had two perfect candidates in mind…"

"It was then that he revealed that comet or not, he had planned on sending his agents in to slaughter the child's parents and kidnap him since it would then have been in his rights to do so. The boy was the first of many test subjects, and the second one's entire family was being manipulated into a single area so they could be killed as well. After all, with the way he was planning things, it would look as though some random thugs with an agenda would've done the killing, and none of it would be traced back to him. He stared at the child, but as the kid laid frozen in absolute fear, he saw not a man in the Chief's eyes, but a demon hiding in the shell of a man. There was nothing he could do though, the abject horror on his face at that very moment confirmed his surrender to that fact."

"His parents were dead, they were never coming back, he wasn't going to make it out of the metal rings that bound him to hell's table. He was utterly defeated, and collapsed from the exhaustion brought on by fear, anger, and hatred. From those emotions though, he remembered what his parents taught him, using the kindness and the resolute happiness brought on from their memories to forge a mask, one that would bury away his negativity and allow him to live on under a false pretense of happiness until he could one day take it off and unleash it all on the man who has wronged him so."

"He was injected with the Saiyan DNA, his unconscious body feeling nothing, not even the changes going on within his molecular structure. He woke up to find that the binds had been removed, his body having been forced upright with the Chief standing beside him. He grinned menacingly, but the child ignored it and smiled innocently. The DNA began to take effect thanks to the scientific methods used by the machines above, and in a matter of seconds he rose off the table, now able to fly freely. It was revealed later on that the two powers that the child obtained from the infusion were 'Flight' and the 'Zenkai', the ability to get stronger after living through a grievous wound in battle."

"The Chief was understandably disappointed, since he wanted all the powers to be given to his test subjects. He deemed the child a failure, and noted that the other subject they had planned to use had escaped from custody of the agents that went to pick him up after his family died. However, he wanted to see if anything else would come from his little project, and in an act of kindness that was only beneficial to himself in the long run he allowed the child to return to his home. He would be monitored, but would be allowed to go to school, eat proper meals, and even be allowed to buy his own clothes. Everything that happened though forced the child to grow up earlier than expected."

"He had to mature to adapt to the circumstances, keeping himself happy, even if at times it strained himself to do so. He had to wait though, as things were now he wouldn't survive long enough to get the revenge he long desired. He wanted to see his parents still, but knew that life did not work that way. Things would not be as easy as fiction depicted it, and he eventually forgot most of what was said to him, especially about the mystical orbs that could've easily granted his wish. The years passed by like weeks, and in his blissful, falsely lived life he never expected the event that would happen to him one day…The day he was given a chance to escape, the day he met Mario…"

The end of this story brought a confliction of feelings inside of my mind. I felt woozy, my vision started blurring up as my head throbbed without end. I put my left hand on my forehead and felt as though everything around me was spinning. I could've vomited at any time, and in a way I wish I would've just to force me to stop feeling this way. I didn't recall anything the Chronicler mentioned, which puts into question just who this story was about now. I thought it was my tale, but now that I heard this horrifying nightmare in full detail I just couldn't believe it….

And that's when it hit me. As all the pain subsided I had only my left hand shaking wildly in front of my face, struggling to maintain myself as I remembered what Luigi had said just two days ago about my amnesia. The Chronicler's tale was probably something I had forgotten, and my pain right now was caused by all these emotions welling up and trying to break free. I could only think about how foolish it was for me to hide away my rage at such a young age, I wondered about how it was even possible for me to still be alive when I was driven by such a false pretense of life. I would've been better off dead, I should've been killed by the comet, I want to die now, I can't do anything, its all my fault, if I wasn't born they would still be alive, I failed them, I failed myself, I failed existence, my failed existence…

I was having a crisis of identity, the negativity wrapping around my fragile mind like a cocoon and refusing to break open to give me pause. It was only by looking at my weapon that my eyes went out of their blank state and I was reminded of what I had. I had power, plenty of power, all the power I needed. That's what I waited for, the power I needed to exact vengeance on that sadistic bastard and right the wrongs he had done to the world. I grinned, my teeth pressing together as my eyes widened and I began to laugh slowly yet eerily. Lightning came crashing down from above, hitting the sand and with a flash of light my shadow was cast behind me.

From that laughter came a sudden silence. I gripped the rod of my scythe tightly, almost snapping it in two were it nor for my restraint. I slanted my eyebrows downward, glaring at the staircase where the Chronicler stared at me with a concerned look gazing at me from beyond his damned hood. He was concerned for me, and I didn't know why. I felt great, all this rage I felt, it was a great motivator. I felt like I could conquer anything, even that bastard alien who shared the honor of being one of the two bane's of my existence. Channeling this rage into my body, I began to walk towards the staircase.

The Chronicler tried to stop me, saying "You shouldn't go in your current condition." In a tone that expressed regret over revealing the truth to me. Why should he be sorry? I feel better than ever now, and its all thanks to him. Never before have I felt stronger, so enlightened to the truth that I had long since forgotten. The being said nothing more, and with a flash of lightning colliding with the bottom step on the staircase he vanished without a trace. The roar of thunder grew louder, the winds becoming more violent at my command. I reached the top of the staircase, the lightning increasing in frequency all-around as I saw my opponent standing before me.

Through the darkness cast by the black, cloudy sky I saw a giant-shelled Koopa with swirl-y glasses on his smug, bulky face, and the lumbering creature's yellow shell crackled to the brim with high-voltage across a set of metal rods protruding from each hexagon pattern. The wind blew my poncho to the right, and I matched the Koopa's expression by closing my eyelids to hide the giddiness I felt while I grinned menacingly at him with my scythe held out and the nearly pillars casting a shadow on top of my body. Lightning made my weapon more visible, the crescent blade gleaming ominously as the wind spun around it, weaving together four currents of air together until the blade's length was doubled. In the face of my opponent, I could only say one thing "Prepare to die…"

The Doomed Bulk of Electricity: Kentri C. tyKoopa

The two things that compose the symphony of a violent storm were here in combat. I wasted no time in lashing out at the giant Koopa, swinging my scythe out to send a thousand blades of crescent wind from the compressed form around the steel. The beast's conductors reacted on primal instinct, defending him with a shield of electricity coursing around his entire body. The wind scattered away, returning to the air and becoming invisible to the naked eye upon impact with the shield. But a flash of lightning controlled by nature itself struck down, creating a blinding flash that distracts the Koopa long enough for me to get close to him and puncture the blade of my scythe through a stitch in the shield.

I didn't care that the electricity was being absorbed into my blade, it would never be allowed a chance to spiral through the staff and paralyze me. I tugged as hard as I could, nicking the backside of the electric thread and ripping apart the shield's structure, the broken strands fizzling in the air until it disintegrates towards the source of its existence. All the while my weapon is gripped loosely and hanging over my left shoulder, pressing against the cloth of my poncho just a moment later as I command one of the bubbles to burst open, releasing a veil of fog that I force to condense around my opponent's body.

His vision is completely obscured, and I can only imagine the helplessness in the Koopa's mind as he commands the conductors on his shell to fire lightning bolts in all directions in hopes that one would strike me and free him from this cloud. He stumbles about, failing to escape as I keep commanding the fog to blind him while circling myself around the formless mass, watching him to suffer until I was ready to strike at him with my scythe. With his random barrage of bolts failing to even singe my poncho, the Koopa raises his hands past the fog and with a web of lightning forming around and extended past his palms, the clouds above stop roaring.

The ends of the web are all that remain as everything else fades out. The points convert into blue-ish orbs clearly designed to gravitate all other electricity towards it. The black clouds above swirl into a spiral that raises itself into the sky, from the eye of this phenomena a massive lightning bolt begins to emerge, splitting apart into eight separate streams that flow through the air like hunting serpents until they bite down on the orbs that are their prey. The bolts then crash onto the ground, tearing apart the rocky floor with the booming echoes of thunder ricocheting off the temple's metal walls.

But the beast was a panicking fool, unable to realize the one thing that allowed his lightning to exist. The clouds above him provided him with an endless supply of the element, and without their existence he was nothing but another life whose air I would reap with my scythe. I smugly grinned and converted my body to a foggy form, weaving around and moving through the lightning bolts as they extended outward diagonally to tear up the battlefield in hopes of capturing me in their jagged forms and incinerating my body with ease. The lightning was not drawn to the metal of my weapon while I was in this state, a fact that would make little difference anyways.

However, I had to become corporal again in order to control the clouds above me. I rocketed into the sky, staring down the funnel that was spewing lightning without end. I grinned the moment my body returned to normal, and with my scythe gripped firmly with both hands in the middle I charged straight past the lightning that would kill me if I even brushed it and went into the cloud, raising my weapon above my head and whirling it around wildly with enough force to begin sucking in the clouds around me like a tornado. I kept the rotation going rapidly, alternating the grip between both hands to hasten the work on both ends.

The clouds vanished bit by bit, dragged out of sight into my blade and stopping the lightning's persistent existence in a matter of seconds. I stop rising as I near the end of the funnel, slowing my spinning scythe until I swing it out in a crescent arc in front of me, hurtling all the of the mass I gathered from the clouds far away from the area in a compressed stream. Needless to say, my actions irritated the beast, who was forced back to the energy being produced from its back in order to combat me, but the fog kept him from doing anything but fire lightning bolts wildly around his bulky mass.

None of them hit me, instead just grazing my line of sight much to my unsurprised joy. I shook my head, and decided that now was the time to put the beast out of its misery. I began to descend, looking down at the fog that had been bundled around the Koopa's body and drawing my left hand out to disperse it with a thought. However, as the beast looked up at me and roared, ready to strike my vulnerable body, I took advantage of his open mouth to force dirt down his throat, carried along by a steady stream of wind until the Koopa breathed it all in and the results occurred instantly.

He began to choke, the dry specks grinding against the muscle walls of his esophagus and breathing tubes, forcing him to fall flat on his knees as he pulled his arms inward and wrapped them his neck, trying to cough the dirt out with all of his might. I didn't give him any quarter, as I landed on the ground and quickly stamped my right foot on top of his head to press him against the floor. I gripped my scythe with both hands and held it downward, putting the tip as close to the skin of the Koopa's neck as I possibly could. All it would take now was one slash and I would deprive him off all of his oxygen.

I was so much stronger now that discarded my morals and fought with brutality and rage. I took down the outer guardian in record time, and all other guardians would fall just as easily. I would carve a path of destruction through the temples, banish the influence of the 'Midnight Channel' with utter ease. I would make a reality bender fall to my blade, tearing his smug head clean of with one swipe of my blade. That will ensure peace, I will keep that peace, and it all started because I remembered what I thought I never should've. This is the true power of unbridled rage, this is a wondrous feeling that I never want to go away.

This is…What I…What I… "Good night, big brother…" I was stopped, my face frozen in an expression of wide-eyed disbelief, by the echoes of what Driad said to me last night. His innocent remark, which showed appreciation for the connection I had with him, was not the first thing I heard in my mind. "You are welcome to stay and relax a bit before heading out…" Luigi's concern over my own well-being was the next thing that echoed. "But please, I bequeath of you…Save everyone of my comrades who have been lost to that paranormal realm…" Florence's request came next, but that was all I needed to hear.

What was I thinking…What was I becoming just now? I looked down at the helpless Koopa, my scythe still at his throat. This isn't how the others would've done it. Not Mario, not Luigi, not Driad…They would beat their enemy, sometimes kill them if there was no other option, but to cruelly torture them while brimming with sadistic glee? That's why people respect the Mario Bros., because they are kind, they can always be counted on to save the day, and by the end of the day their smiles are seen as inspiration to others. Now I looked at what I was about to do, drawing a parallel between us both if I would've taken this road.

Who would want to respect someone who had no morals? That's not the type of person the innocent citizens would want to look up to. I would be counted on to save the day, but I would just be easily seen as someone who would cause more problems than I would solve them. I'd be a loose cannon waiting to go off, and why would anyone want to risk that with me? And more than anything else, no one would ever be inspired by the merciless whims of a murderer, not on this planet, not ever.

That's what would've happened if I had gone through with using my scythe like that. There would be no turning back, and perhaps that's why the Chronicler begged me to calm down before continuing. But the way I was thinking before, that just simply wasn't me. Irrational rage unleashed upon an unrelated target, that's how a monster thinks…I was on the road to becoming what I perceived the Chief of the F.B.I. to be, an unrepentant demon. And hearing the echoes of their voices again, I was reminded of just what I would lose if I went down that road. Family, friends, a warm home to return to, a calming atmosphere that melts your troubles away…

I had every right to be angry at that bastard for doing what he did to my body, and for what he had planned to do to my parents had the comet not struck them down. But never in a millions years would I have the right to take my rage out on someone else. My problem didn't lie in the Chief's actions, not right now anyways. I had to stay focused on the immediate goal, and deal with Mr. Reality like I promised I would. I had an entire planet relying on me, and it wasn't because I was the Elemental Overlord that I was obligated to help them. Many people here have helped shape me into who I am today, and now it was time for me to return the favor.

It was decided. I wouldn't succumb to anger ever again, at least not without a reasonable instigator for it. I would keep my attitude the way it was before I heard the Chronicler's most recent tale, even if it would prove difficult to keep up such a façade I had to do it for the benefit of my friends and the people I wished to protect. And most importantly, I would keep reminding myself from now until this journey was over that my opponent is Mr. Reality, not the Chief of the F.B.I. When everything is all done with him, I'll head back to Earth and bring down the iron fist of justice upon the Chief, and with that loose end tied up I will bid farewell to the planet and stay here on Plit for the rest of my life.

With that insightful period of time having passed in a matter of seconds to me, I pulled my foot away from the Koopa's head without much thought and used my powers to force the grains of dirt out of his body through his coughing mouth. This act exhausted him, but it was better than death at the least. I moved my scythe away, holding it over my right shoulder as the roar of thunder died out. The atmosphere felt a bit brighter, which is rather interesting now that I think about it. The intensity of the lightning increased as I grew angrier over time, but the clouds and everything else subsided as I in turn cleared my mind of all negativity.

"I guess its like they say…Your mood can usually be connected back to the weather…" Needless to say, it did feel really awkward to talk casually about the connection between the weather and emotions when I'm standing in front of the bulky, unconscious body of the Koopa I just beat. "Oh…Right…" Still, looking down at his body reminded me that I'm going to be fighting another Koopa at the end of a Lightning Palace. I had no idea what was in store for me as far as his true self went, but I was going to beat him and bring him back to Florence safe and sound. "That's the first step in rescuing the M.S.I. from their fate, anyways…" Reminding myself of what else I'd have to do, I made my way around the guardian's body and entered through the temple doors.

Next Time: The Real Form of the True Sel