Chapter 35 Intense Fights Part 2

Gritting his teeth, Mario ran toward Fire Dino Piranha. Each step hurt like hell, like a razor sharp knife that was lit on fire shot through his bones with every step he took. Regardless, he didn't stop. The cries and whimpers of the purple luma resounded in his ears. The poor creature was scared out of his mind, scared of the fiery monster dangling him above the ground. Mario didn't blame him. He ran faster, each step filled with twenty tons of oomph. He ran around to the back of the Dino Piranha. He did it so fast that the beast didn't have time to light itself on fire. He hit the tail, it sprung back, and the barb on the end hit Fire Dino Piranha square in the cheek.

The beast growled. If it had eyes, there was no doubt in Mario's mind that it would be glaring at him. He looked over at Rosalina, who gave him a nod of approval despite her fear. The purple luma also cheered and whooped.

"Good job, Mr. Luigi! Good job!"

Mario smiled. He puffed his chest out in pride, feeling like "Super" Mario for perhaps the first time since the dreaded swap. He was doing well! He was actually making progress! There was only one more hit that the boss could take. One hit, and it would be done for. One hit, and the purple luma would be free. One hit…

WHACK!

"AAH!" Since Mario had failed to pay attention, Dino Piranha whacked him with his tail again. Mario screamed, feeling like he was flying forever.

CRUNCH!

Mario yelped. His leg…he landed on his leg. He sucked air through his teeth as he held onto the appendage. It hurt so, so bad. Every inch of it! Mario knew that he shouldn't even try to stand up. It was a really bad idea to stand up on a broken leg. He…how was he supposed to fight against Fire Dino Piranha if he couldn't even walk?

"Mario!" Rosalina zipped over to him. She cringed when she saw his leg, and one look down at it revealed the reason why. It was bending at an…awkward angle. Mario almost felt sick while looking at it; it made his heartbeat thump in his mouth. Why didn't he pay attention? Why did he allow himself to let his guard down in this fashion? He knew better than that! One wrong move and you were cooked in fights (literally in this case, as this beast had fire). One wrong move could very easily cost you a life. Why did he act so foolish?

"Hold still," Rosalina commanded. She held her wand over his broken leg. The tip glowed with a blue light, a soft blue light that was easy on the eyes. Mario felt his pain go away as the Space Goddess moved her wand up and down its length. He smiled, thankful for her using her powers in this way. He was just about to thank her when he noticed something that made him gasp.

"ROSE, LOOK OUT!"

Rosalina didn't even have time to react. Fire Dino Piranha spit a flaming ball at her from out of his mouth. She shrieked, shooting forward from the impact. Mario's heartbeat sped up even more when he saw her land on the ground. His fear only grew when she didn't wake up.

"ROAR!"

Mario cringed and stood up. While Rosalina had healed his leg, it wasn't anywhere close to being one hundred percent. It still felt as if the bone was going to break into two splintery halves. He also noticed cuts and gashes all over his brother's body, fresh and covered in a very black type of dirt. He winced and cringed at the same time. It was going to take a lot of time for him to recover from this. If Rosalina didn't wake up, he had a feeling he would need to go back to the hospital.

But that didn't matter. His fright didn't mater and his pain didn't matter. He had a boss to fight. He had a goal to reach. That luma was still being held prisoner, and Mario still needed to rescue him. Only one hit was required to take Fire Dino Piranha down; that's it, just one. Even though Luigi's body hurt all over, Mario knew he had to keep going. It was, after all, just one hit.

So, he ran toward his opponent. Well, ran was the wrong word to use; he more so limped at a brisk pace. He grit his teeth again, this time letting out little determined growls. He would beat this monster. He would get his and Luigi's lives back. He didn't care if he was in more pain than he ever thought himself capable of handling. He was so close! So freaking close!

He ran over to Fire Dino Piranha's tail once again. He was just about to spin attack it again when the thing caught on fire. Thankfully, Mario was at least prepared for that this time. He jumped into the air, feeling the heat on his skin. When he landed, pain shot through his foot like a bullet. He let out another yelp, wanting nothing more than to collapse to the ground, hug his hurting leg, and/or rest for the next eternity.

"ROAR!"

Mario got right back into his fighting position. He thought about Luigi, first and foremost. His little bro was counting on him. He wanted his mistake to be corrected, and Mario wanted that as well. He wasn't going to stop until he could do this.

"For Luigi," Mario whispered to himself. He took another deep breath, preparing both his mind and his brother's body for another sprint toward Fire Dino Piranha's tail. "FOR LUIGI!"

Time seemed to slow down as Mario ran. His breathing rate was heavy, more heavy than he was used to. Sounds that Fire Dino Piranha made faded into the ether. He was almost there. He just needed to take two…more…steps…

WHACK!

"YES!" Mario let out a whoop when he hit the stupid monster's tail again. Before he knew it, the beaten and weakened beast collapsed to the ground, not having any strength left to put up anything resembling a fight. It dropped the cage when it hit the ground, and the prisoner inside let out relieved laughs as Mario made his way over to set him free.

"You did it Mr. Luigi!" Once the luma's cage door had been opened, the little thing bust out of the cage and embraced Mario in a hug much tighter than any luma hug had the right to be. "I'm so happy! You beat him; you actually beat him!"

Mario let out a sigh of relief and hugged the luma back. "Thanks buddy." He tried to stand up, but instantly collapsed to the ground. Maybe it was just because he no longer had the same amount of adrenaline coursing through his brother's veins, but his pain was so much more pronounced than before. It was like his body was chalk full of the most lethal bullets. He almost cried as he laid on the ground, exhausted and about to pass out.

"Mr. Luigi! Are you okay?"

Mario let out a breath. "T…try to wake up your Mama." Despite himself, he managed to smile. "We shouldn't have anymore trouble from here on out."

To say that Luigi was scared of Dry Bowser would be an understatement. Staring at the skeletal form of what was one of the nastiest baddies in the Mushroom World made his entire form shake like it had never shaken before. He felt ready to shit his pants, to scream so loud that the whole world heard it. It was only one glance at Daisy that prevented him from doing either of those things.

Dry Bowser laughed. "You're so puny in comparison to my bony awesomeness!" He grinned. "Taking you two wimps out should be easy!"

He took in a breath, with blue flames escaping from his close mouth. Daisy and Luigi jumped in the way literally within milliseconds of getting burned to a crisp. Dry Bowser's fire hit the back wall instead, causing a large hole to be formed.

Daisy jumped right into action. "There's a tunnel! Come on Lou!"

So, the two of them ran down the passageway. Luigi still breathed at a terrifyingly quick and heavy rate. He heard Dry Bowser thrashing at the stones used to construct the walls of his castle. He also heard the Great Koopa King taking in a deep breath, preparing to send another fireball straight down the tunnel that Luigi and Daisy ran through. Sure enough, the corridor was lit up by blue light. Luigi tried to run, but the fireball was moving faster than he could run. He braced himself for the release of death…

But the fireball passed right through the two of them. Luigi blinked, observing himself for any burn marks. There were none, which confused him to absolutely no end. That is, until he remembered something.

"Oh right! We're wearing the ultra ultra ULTRA sunblock!"

"Yep!" Daisy exclaimed. Her happiness was cut short when the sound of Dry Bowser roaring carried throughout the corridor. "But we can't celebrate now! We need to keep running!"

Luigi nodded. Even thought the sunblock protected them from Dry Bowser's fire, their lives were still at a very potent level of risk. With how large the undead king was, he could pull their bodies apart, sending organs and blood spraying everywhere. With this realization, Luigi put on a burst of speed.

When they got to the end of the tunnel, Luigi observed that they were in a room with platforms floating around a lava pit. Some of the platforms had spinning fire bars attached to them. Again, Luigi wasn't worried about getting burned thanks to the sunblock, but even then, he wasn't all that happy about seeing them. He squinted past them, trying to see the end of the corridor. His heart beat picked up when he saw a cage hanging from the ceiling.

"MARIO! DAISY!" Peach called out.

Luigi exchanged a happy look with his girlfriend. She was there! He princess was literally right there! Not only that, but there was also a switch directly below her cage! It glowed, seemingly begging Luigi to stomp on it and cause the floor under the platforms to collapse. Seriously, when would Bowser learn that switches and axs were the only things keeping him away from a solid victory?

"Come on Lou! Let's go rescue her!" Daisy exclaimed.

Luigi nodded. He hopped onto the nearest platform, and Daisy followed suit. Luigi watched as she sprung past him, using the Springy Steppers to gain more height than he could ever hope to reach. He was about to follow her with a grin when…

CRASH!

Luigi shrieked. He looked behind him, seeing that Dry Bowser had burst through the wall. His eyes glowed in their sockets, making him look like some undead demon from the worst level of hell.

"YOU TWERPS AREN'T GOING TO WIN! NOT ON YOUR SWEET LIFE!"

Luigi gulped. Without much thinking, he started leaping across platforms to get to Peach's platform. Despite him moving at top speed, it felt as if Dry Bowser was right on his tail. When he stopped to catch some much needed breath, Dry Bowser grabbed hold of him and lifted him off the platform. Luigi struggled while held in his grip, but that had no effect on his opponent. Said opponent just sneered down at him.

"Looks like I've literally got you in my clutches Mario." He laughed. "How funny is it? That this time of all times will be the one where the famous Super Mario will meet his end?" Luigi felt Dry Bowser's grip tighten around him. It was like a snake coiling around his body except…so much worse. "It's just too bad it took until me burning my skin and muscles off for that to happen, but hey! It's the destination, not the journey."

Luigi's heart rate sped up. He fought against Dry Bowser's tightening grip, his stress levels going off the charts it became clear to him that there was no possible way to escape from this. This was it. How could he be so stupid to think that he actually stood a chance at fighting off against Bowser without Mario? He wasn't a strong hero like his brother. And now, he was going to get an eternal punishment for daring to think that he could be.

"NO!"

In a blink and you'll miss moment, Daisy shot towards Dry Bowser and punched him in the nose. The Koopa King yelped and dropped Luigi, who Daisy scooped up and brought him to the nearest platform by using the Springy Steppers to jump off of Dry Bowser's ribcage. Once they were safe, Luigi gave her the most thankful of looks.

"Daisy…you saved me!" He laughed. "And you did it by punching Dry Bowser in the face!"

Daisy laughed. "Hey! When I have a goal, it's pretty much guaranteed that I will accomplish it." She wrapped her arms around Luigi. "I'm glad you're okay," she whispered.

Luigi beamed and hugged her back. Seriously, was there a more perfect girl than her?

"ROAR!"

Oop, no time to think about that now! With their eyes set straight on their goal at the end of the hallway, Luigi and Daisy jumped from platform to platform. Dry Bowser thrashed at the platforms, shooting fireballs at them, but they just kept on going. When they got to the switch, Luigi and Daisy turned toward Dry Bowser. He looked ultra scared to see them so close to the thing that would spell his doom.

"No! Don't push that! Don't push…!"

Luigi tapped the switch. Dry Bowser shrieked as the floor gave out from under his feet. He kicked and screamed, trying to grab anything that would prevent him from being sent down the same drain the lava was. However, his attempts were in vain. He fell into a pit, never to be seen again.

Luigi let out a breath. "I…I did it!"