"Guys! What are we gonna do?!" Peach cried out in fear. Peering from behind a rock, the princess can see that Larry has been possessed and is now freeing the other possessed characters from the thick vines. If they're not quick to think of a plan, then it's only a matter of time before those characters find where they're at!
"All right! Let's calm down! Everyone gather up!" Ludwig took charge of the situation.
All the characters gather up in a circle, being careful to stay out of view from Jabrael and the possessed minions. After they are gathered up, the group tries to plan up a sort of strategy plan to beating the creatures.
"So... What can we do?" asked Roy. Daisy looks over at Lemmy and Iggy as if she expects them to remember something.
"Do you two remember the book in Ludwig's room?"
~7~7~7~7~7
FLASHBACK:
Lemmy, Iggy and Daisy gather around Luigi. Luigi is holding a black book in his hands, titled Light Overpowers Dark.
"Look! It talks about weaknesses of shadow figures! If I recall, both Nature and the Star Spirits have told us Jabrael's a shadow spirit! Look at these weaknesses!" Luigi continued.
Lemmy and Iggy nod their heads at the weaknesses as Daisy reads them out loud, "'Weaknesses include every element: light, wind, water, heat, earth and cold.' Wait why is cold on there when there's a supposed portal in Ice Land? Plus, cold is just a lack of heat!" the desert princess questioned.
"I don't know!" Luigi shrugged.
However, Daisy reads the second page from Luigi's shoulder, "'Shadow figures may leech powers from others who possess the same power to not only gain power, but to be immune from the same elements.' So THAT's why Jabrael wants the power of the Sages!"
"With the Sages, her only weakness would be earth attacks. Wind is mainly pressure caused by a combination of many atmospheric phenomena such as imbalances in both heat and moisture. But I don't know if the Sages work TOGETHER at all, let alone with pressure differences. They seem to always be AGAINST each other. Except for three cases: water and nature, along with nature and light, and light usually translates to heat, of course…" Iggy lectured, "So wind MAY be something the Star Spirits could also have priority over the Sages, along with the earth element."
"… The elements are so confusing! So are the Sages!" Daisy exclaimed, "But I guess since we have the powers of the Sages, we can be safe!"
"Even though we don't know how to use the powers! But I guess that's a good thing…" Lemmy continued, "We'll know when time comes I guess."
~7~7~7~7
"Remember? Her weaknesses are the powers we have!" Daisy continued to lecture the group.
"And we cannot let her have our powers! She possessed Larry, although his vines seem to weaken her a bit, and she possessed Violent!" Lemmy shuddered.
Peach and Roy nodded at Lemmy's message. Then the princess asks another question.
"Okay. We all have powers! But... Do we just do it one power at a time? Or how?"
That is when Morton tells the group about the encounter with the Star Spirits in the dark dimension...
~7~7~7~7~7
FLASHBACK:
"Hey!" Mamar greeted the group, "We're here to help you! Star Haven has heard your complaints!"
"So we're going to give you our powers to help you! And the Star Rod!" Misstar continued as she points the Star Rod at each of the prisoners' shackles, handcuffs and ropes. Each one easily melted off, yet the prisoners are not harmed.
"Wow!" Morton commented, "How'd you do that?! I tried blowing fire onto the handcuffs but they burned me! I should sue whoever made those handcuffs for that!"
"The Star Rod, combined with my power, makes it powerful," Misstar replied, "If you guys want to get anywhere, your powers need to be combined. Or else you all will fail."
"Alright! Zank you very much for ze assistance, Star Spirits!" Ludwig thanked as Misstar hands Ludwig the Star Rod. Mamar also transfers some of her power to Alex, while Misstar transfers a portion of her power to Reeka.
~7~7~7~7~7
"That means we need to combine our powers!" Morton explained to the group, "Ludwig, do you still have that Star Rod or whatever it's called?"
"Indeed," nodded Ludwig, pulling out the Star Rod and touching a plant nearby with it. The tip of the Star Rod starts to glow when it comes in contact with the plant, "Before you guys say 'make a vish Ludwig,' I vould vant to say zat zis is not ze vishing Star Rod, but razzer zis Star Rod is used to gather up povers, zen to launch the concentration of all povers into vun powerful beam."
The other characters nod at Ludwig's explanation of the Star Rod. Seeing that the rest of his comrades understand him, the eldest Koopaling again took charge of the situation.
"All right. Okay, so here's ze plan... Ve vere given povers from ze Sages and ze Star Spirits. Ve MUST use zem to our advantage!"
~7~7~7~7~7
Meanwhile on the other side of the rocks, Jabrael and her minions are looking around for the heroes.
"Where did those blasted characters go?" Jabrael questioned her minions. The minions shrug their shoulders.
"They must have ran," Mario laughed.
"Scaredy-cats!" Bowser continued.
"That's too bad! I wanted to show them dark power!" Larry shook his head in disappointment.
"Kill... Murder... Blood..." murmured Violent.
Alex, Reeka, Toad and Luigi remain silent, but also have upset looks on their faces.
"Do not fret, my minions. We will find them and obliterate them!"
All the minions cheer in response at Jabrael's words.
~7~7~7~7~7
"Okay. Everyvun get ready to do zeir part-"
Ludwig's instructions are interrupted by the near-ghastly, creepy laughter exerted from the possessed minions. That's when Ludwig gives the cue.
"Iggy! Start it now!"
After his command, Ludwig holds up the Star Rod. Iggy nods his head, points to a dirt field, then moves his finger in a clockwise direction. A sudden gust of wind kicks up, causing a giant dirt cloud to kick up. The cloud of dirt impairs the vision of Jabrael and her minions, weakening them before the dark beings can be on the offensive.
"Urgh! Cursed wind!"
As the wind continues to blow, the top of the Star Rod in Ludwig's hand starts glowing, sucking in a portion of the wind power.
Next, while Jabrael and the minions are blinded by the dirt wind, Morton walks out from behind the rocks and blows a pillar of fire towards the air above the minions. A ring of fire forms around the minions from the falling fire while some fireballs get sucked up by the Star Rod Ludwig has.
"AHH! Fire! Get it away from me!" Jabrael screams in an eerie voice, furthering being weakened by the display of elements. The minions also seem to be freaking out, but their screeches are inaudible to the heroes. The wind makes the fire scene worse; the inferno starts to close in on the dark beings, efficiently roasting them like a rotisserie chicken.
"Eureka!" Ludwig screeched in happiness, "Ve have vind and fire! Vendy! Do it!"
Wendy nods her head then points to a circulating cloud of dust. A sudden cumulonimbus cloud forms in the air, and a torrential rainfall pours over the whole scene. A rain drop hits the Star Rod, causing the Star Rod to glow brighter.
By the minions, the rain is drenching the fire; because of the huge, heavy drops, the fire extinguishes, but not before causing its damage to the minions and Jabrael herself. They all seem to have burn marks on their bodies, as well as rope burn from Larry's vines and chills from the heavy rain mixed with the blustery winds.
"Aww!" Lemmy laughed, "They look cold! Cold as cucumbers! TRY THIS!"
All the sudden, the hard rain freezes as it falls, causing a mixture of freezing rain and even some hail to land all over the scene. The freezing rain creates slick conditions for the minions, causing the minions to slip and fall all over the ice.
"Haha! They got the taste of that earth element!" Lemmy joked. At this time, the precipitation from Wendy's cloud turns completely into snow. The snow, combined with the arctic air and the wind, turns the area into a full-out blizzard!
"D-don't th-th-think you g-guys won!" Jabrael stuttered in the cold wind like a kid in a haunted house. Since the Koopalings and the princesses are on the leeward side of the rocks, the wind chill does not affect them. Ludwig continues to hold the Star Rod into the air, glowing as snow lands on it.
"Okay guys. Ve got ze plant, fire, vater, vind, earth elements from ze dust in ze vind, and cold. Ve just need light and ve vill be good."
The rest of the characters look at Roy; the Koopaling shrugs.
"I never done dis before."
"Just try, Roy," Lemmy counseled, "Think of something that makes you feel an extreme emotion; you will feel the power. Those emotions can be extreme happiness, frustration, depression or anything else. Then just keep focusing on expelling that power through your claws. That's how I did it."
If it was at any other time, Roy would reject the counseling from his older yet smaller sibling; pummeling a feared demon, however, is not one of those times. Roy nods at the advice Lemmy gave him and starts to think of things that can possible exasperate him.
Roy thinks about the first time the Mario Brothers defeated him, sending both him and the doomship to crash down near the Sky Land's border with Ice Land, leaving him to die. He thinks about Jabrael and her vile doings, such as harming everyone in her taken-over worlds and possessing his father and brother. Just the thought of the possession itself makes the koopaling clench his teeth and point his claws to the cloud; he can feel some energy being drained from his body. When it got to the point that Roy feels like he can no longer exert any power, a sudden electrical storm kicks up within the snow-dumping cloud.
"Good job! Ve got zome zundersnow!"
The rest of the Koopalings nod as a huge lightning bolt strikes the Star Rod, causing it to shine with immense strength. That strike did it; with the immediate flicker of both the blinding bolt and the glowing Star Rod, the mist of darkness wards off, the winds cease and the storm disappears as quick as it started. With the lack of darkness and cloud cover, the Sun emerges again, causing Jabrael to be extremely weakened, and the possessed heroes to fall down on the ground stomach-down.
"Urrrrrgggghhhh..."
Jabrael starts to fizzle out, then bursts into pockets of dark matter! The dark mist makes its journey towards the Serenity Isle Castle, revealing blue sky everywhere the heroes look. As the dark matter starts to leave them, the fallen heroes cry out for help.
"Help..." Toad pleaded.
"Can't... Move my... Legs..." Mario cried.
Ludwig, holding the bright, glowing Star Rod, reappears from behind the rock, making his way towards the injured group members. The rest of the hiding group follow his lead; the seven unhurt members circling around the injured.
"You guys vait okay? Ve'll aid in your assistance after ve destroy ze portal, okay?" Ludwig attempts to calm them down. Despite the obvious disappointment of the injured members, they understand that the portal must be destroyed. After all, the battle didn't end when Jabrael disappeared; it ends when all contact between Jabrael's dark realm and Plit are destroyed.
"Okay... Hurry fast... Though..." Larry begged. Peach nods her head.
"Don't worry guys. We won't be long at all. Follow me guys, I think I know where the portal is."