Chapter 33 Fiery Lands

Mario watched as the Comet Observatory came to a halt in front of the Melty Monster Galaxy. The heat of the wretched place was so strong that it made him sweat even from this far away. Or maybe that was just his stress levels. Either way, he didn't want to look at Melty Monster for too long. His heart pumped, his legs shook, and his hands felt clammy. He did a deep breathing exercise, hoping to calm himself down. He could do this. He was Super Mario after all. Sure, he was in a different body, and sure, he was more scared than he had felt before. But even still, he knew that he could do this. He needed to do this; both his and his brother's lives depended on it.

Wow, okay, that thought only caused more pressure to be put on top of him. He needed to focus on something banal, something that wouldn't cause him to feel like fainting. Hmm…puppies. Yes, puppies; he really liked those. So soft, so playful, so cute. Puppies were the best things to think about in times of strife. Thinking about their wiggly, cuddly bodies managed to distract Mario from the lava. The hot, steaming, boiling lava, filled with magmaarghs and podoboos…

Oh gosh darn it! Looks like Mario couldn't distract himself as well as he thought he could. His knees buckled, and he almost fell. He took in more deep breaths, desperately trying to prevent himself from hyperventilating. He could almost consider himself successful as Rosalina floated down toward him.

"Well, Super Mario. Are you ready?"

Mario took in another deep breath. He could do this. He could do this! He could do this…

ou

"Y…yeah, I'm ready."

Rosalina's brow furrowed, which indicated to Mario that she knew he was freaking out. She reached for his hand, squeezing it with the gentle touch that was quite fitting for the mother of all lumas. He held on extra tight, for the feel of her hand in his actually did help ease his stress a little bit. He faced the Melty Monster Galaxy, this time with determination as opposed to dread.

"Let's a go," he said.

"Yes, let's." Rosalina turned toward the lumas. "Stay here, my babies! We'll be back in a little bit."

"Be careful, Mama!" one luma exclaimed.

"Keep Mario safe!

"I really wish I could come with you…"

Rosalina sent one more look down toward Mario before rising into the air. Together, they zipped toward Melty Monster. Mario heard the gurgly grunts of the magmaarghs, preparing themselves to jump out of the lava and trap anybody in their big, gapping, disgusting maws. When they landed on the first planet, Mario actually saw one of those fiery monstrosities jump out of the lava. They roared, spraying their magma-like spittle every which way. Mario shrieked as some of it landed near his feet. He managed to avoid getting hit, which was a good thing as the ground that was hit sizzled and turned orange.

"Do we know where exactly in this galaxy the purple luma is?" Mario asked, turning up to face Rosalina.

Rosalina put her hand to her chin in thought. "I believe…. I believe that they are on one of the top most planets. As in, the planet that is at the highest point in the sky in comparison to the others."

Mario nodded. "So we need to aim our sights there."

"Exactly." Rosalina looked forward. "Unfortunately…well, this is pretty embarrassing to admit, but casting the travel spell on and steering the Comet Observatory has really drained me of energy. I'm afraid that I can't take us all the way up there by using magic."

Mario's heart sank. "So we're going to have to make our way up there on foot."

Rosalina nodded, her face grim. "Unfortunately."

Mario winced. He thought about what he had to do in order to traverse this galaxy before. It was certainly doable, but also nerve wracking to the nth degree. The magmaarghs were just the begin; there were so many enemies, so many treacherously deep lava pits and drop offs that led to an untimely death in a ever hungry black hole. Could Mario do this again? Could he jump from planet to planet, all while avoiding the very real and very nasty deaths that such a galaxy offered?

Well, if he wanted his body back, he certainly needed to try. So, he took one more deep breath and lead Rosalina forward. The first thing that he noticed was a pull star. He closed his eyes, concentrating and letting his body get dragged toward the star's gravitational pull. His feet lifted off the ground as he and the Lady of the Shooting Stars shot forward. While in the air, Mario held onto Rosalina's hand extra tight, supremely tight. He opened his eyes when he heard the whining, eerie sound that indicated he got as close to the pull star as the little celestial body would allow. He looked upwards and saw another pull star. He was just about to allow himself to get pulled to that one when…

"Mario, wait!"

Mario halted, and not a moment too soon. A magmaargh burst out of the lava again, clearly having smelled the scent of two humans and clearly feeling as if it was time to eat. They passed through the pull star, nearly grazing Mario's skin. The plumber shrieked and backed up a little bit, not allowing himself to go forward until the big orange beast had sunk back into the lava.

He turned toward Rosalina. "Thanks."

"No problem." Rosalina faced forward. "Now we need to be careful from this point on. Let's keep going."

So, they made their way past the various pull stars. Mario couldn't even begin to describe how relieved he felt when they came across the first launch star. They shot off into space, away from the magmaarghs. Mario actually laughed, looking down at the monsters who didn't get the satisfaction of devouring him in one bite. Now that he thought about it, he had felt this way before. This happy, relieved feeling had been with him the first time he flew through Melty Monster Galaxy, and it was just as sweet then as it was now.

After a little bit of time spent in the air, they shot through a bout of smog and landed on an ashen planet. Mario looked all over this place, noting that it didn't look familiar (it probably wasn't on the path that he used when he was on the mission to find power stars). The air smelt similar to how it did when he was in World 8; so toxic and smoky that breathing it in for too long would no doubt do damage to the lungs. Mario tried to find a launch star, which he thankfully saw just a few yards away. He took a step forward, ready to make his way over…

When Rosalina pulled him back again. At first, he was confused as to why, but he quickly realized that parts of the sky glowed orange. Mario shuddered as he watched sparks rain down from the orange parts of the sky, like the worst type of rain that Mario had ever seen. What made it even worse is that the parts of the ground that the sparks landed on ignited, so now there were little patches of fire on the ground that the two of them had to deal with. Mario exchanged a worried look with Rosalina before putting one step forward. He kept his eyes open, making sure he not only didn't step on the flames, but also that he didn't accidentally get hit by the blazing sparks that the sky so wickedly decided to spit out.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky with that last one. One of the sparks landed on his brother's cap, causing the top of his head to catch fire. Mario shrieked, and in a panic started to run around. If Rosalina wasn't there to reassure him, and tell him that the best thing to do was to stomp out the fire, then…well, Mario wouldn't know what he would've done.

"Thanks Rose," Mario said as he patted Luigi's cap. He noticed a dark mark on the top, one that smelled of burnt fabric. It wasn't very big, much to Mario's surprise, but he knew that he needed to be careful in order to make sure the mark didn't get bigger. He put the cap back on, standing so close to Rosalina that it was like they were joined at the hip. They walked with caution, with Mario watching the ground and Rosalina watching the sky. Much to both of their relief, they managed to get to the launch star without any difficulty.

And with that, they flew upward. Mario watched the galaxy below them get smaller and smaller as they shot like a rocket toward the highest planet. It somehow felt better, seeing a place he had previously thought would provide him with a challenge shrinking like this. It…it kind of gave him a new perspective on things, you know.

Before either of them knew it, they landed on a planet. Mario studied the sky, and his heart rate picked up when he saw no other planets floating in the sky above them. That meant that this was the highest planet in the galaxy, the very place where Mario and Rosalina had set out to get to. The corners of his mouth turned upward in a smile. He almost jumped into the air in excitement, but didn't when he reminded himself that he shouldn't celebrate too soon. Anything had the potential to happen between now and finding the purple luma.

So, he and Rose walked up the surface of the planet. The ground was sooty, but not as sooty as the previous planet. It also had…tracks? Okay, that actually made Mario worry. He had seen tracks like that before, when he was on the mission to rescue the Power Stars. They…they belonged to…

"Mario, look!"

Mario looked forward and gasped. There! There was the purple luma, bobbing up and down in…a cage? What? Oh no…what if he had been put into a cage by…

"Mama!" The luma squeeze.

Rosalina smiled, practically oo,ing motherly instinct. "Oh my goodness, I am so happy to see you, sweetheart!" She started to fly toward her child, no worry on her face at all.

Mario, however, wasn't as eager. "Um, Rose…"

In that moment, something landed on the ground. It shook both the planet and Mario to their core. He tried to steady himself, and gawked when he saw the creature capable of landing this hard. Said creature picked up the luma's cage and roared, the sound deafening.

It was Fire Dino Piranha. And he wasn't going down without a fight.

"AHHHH!"

The worlds passed below Luigi in a blur of color. He closed his eyes, for looking at his surroundings changing with such immense and incredible speed actually hurt to look at. While his eyes were closed, the scent of smoke and brimstone landed on his nostrils. He didn't even need to look to know that they were almost at World 8.

"Woohoo!" Daisy exclaimed as they shot towards the dreaded last world. She didn't even seem to be turned off by the smoke; she just whooped and cheered as they passed over the Mushroom World like shooting stars. She had always been an adrenaline junkie, a trait that Luigi didn't understand, but loved regardless.

After a little bit, Luigi opened his eyes. It was at this moment that he prayed he and Daisy wouldn't land in a lava pool, as the cannons could be somewhat random in terms of where they shot the people who used them at. Thankfully, his prayers were answered. Unfortunately, the place they did land just made Luigi worry even more than before.

They landed right in front of Bowser's front door. Literally. Luigi lifted himself up, looking at the mighty doors in fright as he wiped soot off his front. The eyes of the Bowser stone head situated above the door glowed. This made Luigi tremble, and do so more profusely than he had ever done before.

"Well! Our job has just become a heap less complicated!" Daisy walked up and put her hand on Luigi's shoulder. "You ready to face Bowser, big guy?"

Luigi took a deep breath. He could do this. He could definitely do this. All he needed to do was believe in himself. He could do this…

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Daisy smiled. They stepped forward, and the door opened. They walked into the dark building, all while Luigi's blood ran cold. He turned back to see the outside one more time…

SLAM!

The doors were shut. There was no going back.