Chapter 34 Intense Fights Part 1
There they were, standing at the end of the hallway, looking at the path that would lead the two of them to Bowser. Luigi looked over at Daisy, mostly because he wanted assurance that he wasn't doing this alone. Daisy saw his look and took hold of his hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze, prompting Luigi to take a deep breath. He sweat, and not just because the inside of the castle was boiling hot. He needed to do this. Peach was counting on him, and he had specifically requested that he go on this mission. So, with one more spritz of the ultra ultra ULTRA sunblock (he wasn't interested in burning to a crisp anytime soon), he took a step forward. He and Daisy marched down the dark hallway, with Daisy keeping an extra tight grip on his hand.
It seemed to take an eternity to reach the door. It creaked open with difficulty, something that Luigi thought was pretty ironic given the fact that Mario went down this specific hallway and opened this specific door pretty frequently. The first thing that came to his attention when the door was opened all the way was the heat. It was sweltering! It felt as if he was standing on the surface of the sun! That did make sense; they were standing on a bridge that hovered directly over a lava pit. This made Luigi pray that E Gadd's sunblock would be enough to protect him if he fell off the bridge. If it wasn't…well, they were toast in several ways.
Luigi took a step onto the bridge, noticing how rickety and unstable it felt. He gulped, the frequency of his prayers increasing tenfold. Thankfully, the bridge held. He could hardly believe it did, but it held. He trekked forward, keeping his hand in Daisy's and his eyes away from the lava.
"So," a big, rumbling bass said. "You finally showed up."
Luigi shook. He watched as a big behemoth stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the bridge. The way the inky blackness morphed to reveal golden and red made his stomach churn. He only felt more scared as he looked into those glistening, wicked red eyes.
"Bowser."
Bowser smiled and laughed, the sound more threatening than any other sound Luigi had ever heard from him. "Look at you Mario. You're shaking like a baby." His eyes traveled over to Daisy, and he chuckled. "And you brought a pretty princess too." He locked eyes on her, studying her like she was a paper he had been tasked with grading. "I just might kidnap her sometime in the near future. Provided, of course, I don't kill her in this epic showdown."
Daisy put her free hand on her hip. "You're funny. You think you're the most fearsome guy in the world. Well guess what! We tackled the desert and managed to defeat one of the Koopalings. You really think our progress is going to stop just because your ugly butt got in the way?" She smirked. "Not in your sweet life."
"Yeah!" Luigi said. "We're taking you down! I'm Super Mario after all; I always emerge victorious!" Hey, there was nothing in the rulebook that said he couldn't build himself up.
Bowser snorted. "That's cute. Real cute." He took a step onto the bridge, causing the already unsteady ground to shake. "But you aren't coming out on top this time Mario. I've trained since our last encounter. I've pushed myself to my limits, going beyond them and shredding expectations to the ground." As if to prove his point, Luigi noticed smoke rising out of his closed mouth. This made the plumber gulp. "I'm going to beat you this time. That isn't a threat, that's a promise."
Luigi looked back over at Daisy, finding renewed vigor as he looked into her determined blue eyes. He faced the Koopa King, pushing all fears to the side. "Well, prepare to have that promise be broken, Bowser. We aren't leaving until you're defeated and Peach is rescued."
Bowser smirked. "Well then, looks like you're never leaving."
With that, he took a deep breath. A strong stream of flames shot out of his mouth, one hot enough to melt skin. Luigi and Daisy only barely got out of the way in time. Luigi caught his breath as he looked at Bowser, laughing on the other end of the bridge.
Could he do this? Please let him do this….
…
Mario stood in shock, staring at the beast that now held the purple luma aloft by its leaf. Fire Dino Piranha's petals stood on end as he looked at Mario. His entire form burned, no doubt because he had a desire to roast Mario and Rosalina to a crisp. The little purple luma in its hands shook, not taking his eyes off of Rosalina.
"Mama, help!"
Rosalina looked over at Mario, appearing half determined and half terrified. "Mario, we've gotta rescue him!"
Mario nodded, putting his game face on. He could do this. He fought Fire Dino Piranha before. Sure, it wasn't the easiest fight of his career, but he still managed to come out on top. If he could do it before, he could definitely do it again.
So, without any more words, he charged. He circled around behind the monster, feeling prepared to spin dash his tail. He smiled when he spotted the walnut-looking…thing on the end. That body part was going to provide Fiery with so much pain, more so than he could reasonably handle. Mario was just about ready to attack it and hit him in the face when…
"YEEOW!"
The tail caught on fire, so fast that Mario didn't have enough time to get out of the way. He yelped, leaping into the air and holding onto his scorched arms. They hurt so bad! They felt like the worst burns Mario had ever received in his life! Ohh….Mama Mia…
"Mario!" In a movement as swift as a rocket ship, Rosalina flew over to Mario and waved her wand. The sparkles that came from it landed on Mario's arms, and all at once, the pain went away. Mario breathed a sigh of relief, relishing the icy coolness. He got up without too many problems.
"Thanks Rosalina."
"Anytime." She turned their opponent, who flapped his leaves and rose into the air. This not only surprised Mario, but also made him worry about the little luma's safety. The poor thing shrieked and held onto the bars of his cage, no doubt just as concerned as Mario about being dropped on the ground and turning into a pile of purple space goo.
"HELP!"
Rosalina gave Mario a look, one that he had only ever seen on the face of his mother. She wanted to rescue her child. She wanted to make sure he was safe, and that anyone who dared bring harm upon his little innocent self was punished. She took hold of Mario's hand, and together they rose into the air. Fiery Dino Piranha let out a confused grunt before roaring, sending burning hot spittle all over the place. Rosalina only briefly expressed disgust before waving her wand and shooting an arcane blast in its mouth. The beast shrieked and dropped to the floor like a dead fly.
This gave Mario the opening he had been looking for. He dropped to the ground, ran around the plant, and spin attacked his tail. The club like end shot into the air before coming back around and hitting its owner right in the cheek.
As Fire Dino Piranha's cheek throbbed red, the beast stood back up. It roared at Mario before spinning in place. The tail, which it had set on fire, hit Mario. The Mushroom Kingdom Hero went sailing through the air, landing on his back with a painful crack.
"MARIO!" Rosalina yelled.
"MR. LUIGI!" The purple luma called out.
Mario grunted, raising himself to his feet. He would go on. He had to. He wouldn't stop until this was finished once and for all.
…
Luigi got into a sort of fighting stance. He examined the room, with Daisy standing to his left and Bowser right in front of both of them. Much to his relief, he saw an ax at the end of the bridge. Sure, it was obvious, clichéd, and really stupid on Bowser's part, but Luigi didn't care. It provided him with the perfect way to end the fight, so he was going to take advantage of the opportunity.
He looked over at Daisy, gesturing to the ax with his head. Daisy looked over, and nodded back as understanding appeared on her face. She then faced Bowser, looking as fierce as someone like her could ever look (which was saying a lot).
"You think your little fire tricks are threatening?" She smirked. "I've seen more dangerous pyrotechnics in magic shows."
Bowser growled, baring his teeth like he was a giant angry dog. "My fire is awesome! I could burn entire kingdoms to the ground if I wanted to! Including your, the Saram-saucy land, or whatever you call it."
Daisy's eyes filled with a new kind of rage. "IT'S SARASALAND!" She gestured toward Luigi as she broke out into a run. Thankfully, he knew exactly what it was that she wanted; he got out the Power Trapper and tossed her a fire flower. She gobbled it up, jumped into the air, and shot a fireball right in Bowser's hideous face.
"OWW!" Bowser put his hand to his snout. "Man, that smarts!" He glared at Daisy as she floated back down to the ground with the help of her dress. "You're gonna pay for that, little girl!" He stomped towards her, making the bridge trembled. Luigi wobbled because of the shaky ground, only barely avoiding falling off the bridge entirely. He looked toward Daisy and Bowser. The former had grabbed the latter by the hair, and was now holding her at arms length. Luigi was horrified to see his mouth open with an orange light in his throat growing brighter and brighter.
"LET GO OF MY GIRLFRIEND!" A protective instinct overcame Luigi, one he didn't even know he had. He ran forward, now thinking with his feet as opposed to his mind. He jumped up and kicked Bowser in the face extra hard. The Koopa King yelped again and dropped Daisy, who looked over at Luigi with such a strong sense of gratitude.
"Thanks Lou."
"Anytime," Luigi said with a nod. He faced down the bridge, past the hurting Bowser and toward the ax just waiting to be picked up. He took hold of Daisy's hand, his vigor, tenacity, and determination growing exponentially with each passing second. "Now come on! We need to destroy the bridge!"
Daisy smiled. "Oh, I know exactly how to do that." With her hand still tightly grasping Luigi's, the two bolted forward. Right as they were about to ram into Bowser (and probably be pushed off the bridge themselves in the process), Daisy jumped high into the air. Luigi smiled as he realized that she was making use of the Springy Steppers. They landed with grave and elegance on the ground off the bridge. They both turned to face Bowser with confident smirks.
"It's over, Bowser." Luigi stepped toward the ax. "We've won." With that, he kicked the ax, and it fell on the bridge. Within seconds, the bridge gave out, and Bowser plummeted to his death in the lava.
Luigi put his hand to his chest. "I…I did it!" He grinned as he looked back over at Daisy. "I did it! I defeated Bowser!"
"Heck yeah you did! And you looked awesome as you did it!" She patted him on the back, wearing a smile that was somehow warmer than the lava Bowser was now swimming in. "Now, let's go find Peach and…"
She never got to finish her sentence, as the ground rumbled. Both plumber and princess held their arms out for balance. While Luigi couldn't speak for Daisy, he could definitely say that he was both confused and horrified by this new development.
"Wh…what's happening?"
A low, deep laughter shook the room. Luigi's eyes grew wide as he saw Bowser rise from the lava. Except…he was different. For one, he was huge! Easily the size of a skyscraper back in Brooklyn! And second, his skin had melted off. He was now a skeleton, with angry glowing eyes that could incinerate the soul.
"What the heck?" Daisy exclaimed.
Bowser laughed. "You two were fools. That fight was only the first phase. Now, you will face the fury... of DRY BOWSER!"
Luigi gulped again. Oh Mama Mia.
