A/N: I can't believe I waited until the LAST CHAPTER to post this here, but it's better late than never:
Disclaimer: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, Bowser, Koopalings, Bowser Jr, E. Gadd, the Star Spirits, Rosalina, Crump, Grodus, the Shadow Sirens and any other familiar names are not owned by me. If they did belong to me then I'd be typing fanfictions from the comfort of my indoor pool and hot tub while servants bring me lemonade. I don't know; something like that!
Honestly I've never knew who Clawdia belongs to, though I heard she was mentioned in some magazine or something. Either way I don't own her.
The princesses and the Koopalings make their way towards the citadel's door, preparing to burst into them. However, as they turn around and see the other anguished members, Daisy decides to do a different plan.
"Okay guys... Some of us should stay with them and comfort them. They may be in severe pain," the desert princess informed the others. The other members, staring at the fallen members, nod their heads in agreement. Peach, however, questions the choice.
"But Daisy! Who will destroy the portal?"
Daisy ponders over Peach's question; after all, it is tough to constantly split up the already split group, but this is necessary. After her pondering and weighing the options, she comes up with an answer.
"I was thinking that... Since both of us have Rosalina's power, we should go; just us two. Ludwig was given the Star Rod to most likely charge it, and he's done that. The others also did their share of the work, but we haven't."
"I guess zat's true," admitted Ludwig. The eldest Koopaling then hands the powered Star Rod to Peach, "Here you go. Now get zat portal!"
After the exchange, Ludwig and the rest of the Koopalings rush over towards the others to mainly provide company.
"Well Peach," Daisy started, opening the door as she does, "I guess we should get this done."
"Indeed," Peach confirmed, "Follow me! I know where it is! I think."
Peach journeys through the hall, eventually leading to the staircase leading to the West Prison. Stepping into the luxury prison, she sees the same crack by the north door, only this time the crack is emitting black smoke.
"That must be it!" the pink princess exclaimed, "The portal must be in there!"
Daisy nods, then turns the doorknob, only to see that the door is locked, "And it's locked. What do we do?"
The two of them think for a second before Peach holds up the Star Rod. "I can probably cut the lock using this. It's powerful so I imagine so!"
Peach touches the doorknob with the Star Rod. Both the magic and the intense heat of the Star Rod causes the doorknob to melt, resulting in a puddle of molten steel to form at the doorway.
"Nice going Peach! Without the lock and the doorknob, we can simply... KICK DOWN THIS DOOR!" Daisy shouted as she proceeds to bust open the door. Peach rolls her eyes at Daisy's dramatic entrance, while Daisy stares wide-eyed at the contents in the room. In the room rests a giant sort of roaring machine. The machine has a bit of dark matter leaking out of it.
"Daisy! That's it!" Peach shouted, holding the Star Rod with both of her hands, then pointing the rod at the machine. The tip of the Star Rod starts pulsing a bit of light, "Hold on to my hands!"
Daisy nods then places her hands over Peach's. After this gesture, a giant grayish-yellow beam shoots out and homes in on the machine. Peach and Daisy immediately run out of the room as several cogs, springs and other machine parts scatter all over the room.
"We destroyed it!" Daisy screamed in excitement, realizing that the journey is now over. However, her smile is replaced with a look of confusion, "... Why did it have to be us that shoots it?"
"I think because light is the fastest thing visible, and it can travel through space unlike sound and other kinds of longitudinal waves. With the power we were given, we emitted as much light as a star! That's what I think anyway."
Daisy nods her head at Peach's explanation. As she watches her life-long friend nod, the pink princess switches the topic.
"Well, Daisy. I guess it's time to get help for the others. Remember Reeka has healing powers! Maybe it can be enhanced with the Star Rod! Let's see!
~7~7~7~7~7
The next night, October 18 in the Mushroom Kingdom timezone, the heroes are in the dining room of Peach's Castle having a celebratory feast. The Mario Gang, Bowser, all eight of his kids, Clawdia, Violent, the Sages and even the Star Spirits are present.
A lengthy table is set up in the room, successfully seating every attending guest. Peach sits at the head of the table, with Daisy sitting to her right and Rosalina to her left. The rest of the Sages and the Star Spirits take up the other chairs on Peach's left side while the Koopas, Violent and the Mario Bros sit to her right. Every one of them have dished up a plate of some sort of seasoned meat, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes and buttered rolls.
"Man! Whoever made this Ostro roast has skill!" Bowser complimented. Peach smiles at the compliment she received.
"Thanks Bowser! The seasoning used on that contains several secret ingredients only us members of the Toadstool Family know."
"Yeah..." Mario spoke up, then turning his head to Bowser, "... So, I guess we go back to our regular lives after this?"
Bowser nods his head, "For old time's sake, Mario. We spend so much of our lives versing each other. It's only fair if it continues."
Mario smirks at his nemesis, "You better watch your back, Bowser-a!"
As Bowser smirks back at Mario, Luigi begins thinking about the two islands they stumbled upon during the journey.
"What about Tranquility Isle and Serenity Isle? Who's gonna rule over those two islands?"
Peach thinks for a bit before finally speaking up, "The Mushroom Kingdom is a huge empire as it is. From the luscious beaches of Water Land, to the wind-swept frozen wastelands of Ice Land, the Mushroom Kingdom controls all that area except for Dark Land. I find those two islands to be much more of hassles than productive, so I will hand down the power to the Koopa Family."
Bowser is surprised at the offer, and so are his kids; the Koopalings are all looking at each other in excitement and eagerness.
"R-really?"
"Yes Bowser," Peach confirmed, "Just remember that if any rights of the people are abused there, the seven lands of the Mushroom Kingdom, as well as the Mushroom Province, will invade. Otherwise, the islands are all under your authority."
"Wow!" Bowser is speechless for a few minutes. He eventually gathers up his thoughts and continues, "I would never expect that!"
"Yeah, well," Peach smiles again, "It has happened! You should let two of your kids rule over those islands when they're old enough."
"Good idea!" Bowser agreed. However, before Bowser can pick someone to rule over Tranquility Isle, Nature speaks to him.
"Tranquility Isle is full of plants. I think Larry will like it most."
Bowser thinks about the suggestion a bit before agreeing with the wise Sage, "Okay. Larry will get Tranquility Isle. For Serenity Isle, let's have a vote."
Larry cheers at the thought of ruling the nature-friendly island. Meanwhile, Bowser starts naming off names.
"Ludwig is the heir to Dark Land so he will be skipped. Bowser Junior is also too young, and Larry already has Tranquility Isle, so both of them will also be skipped, although all of them can vote. Who votes for Lemmy?"
Iggy, Wendy and Morton raise their hands.
"How about Roy?"
Morton, Ludwig and Larry raise their hands.
"Iggy?"
Lemmy, Morton and Larry raise their hands.
"Wendy?"
Lemmy, Morton and Roy raise their hands.
"Morton?"
Remembering that Morton voted for all of them, the other contestants raise their hands. Larry and Ludwig also raise their hands.
"Okay, it's decided then. Morton, you get Serenity Isle! After you graduate, of course. Plus that can be your early birthday gift for next week!"
The characters clap for the two new heirs and they all do a toast to them, as well as the win against Jabrael. Daisy congratulates the two of them before going upstairs. Curious, Luigi follows her up the stairs.
~7~7~7~7~7
Daisy steps out on the balcony of Peach's Castle, staring at the cloudless sky. Millions of stars and faraway galaxies dot the sky, as well as several clouds of nebulae, visible even to the naked eye, far beyond the atmosphere of Plit. Luigi stands to her right side, also staring at the awe-inspiring sky.
"Man Luigi," Daisy murmured while continuing to stare at the sky, "Jabrael wanted to control all of this! She wanted control of every object in space, light-emitting or not. I hope the battle kicked her off more planets than just Plit..."
"Daisy," Luigi sighed, "I'm sure she's back in her realm. I bet she lost every planet she tried to take over."
"But Luigi. We need to do more than banish her from Plit and our side of the universe. We need to get rid of both her and her evil realm for good! We can't risk another attack from her!"
"Look here Daisy," Luigi turns towards the Princess of Sarasaland. Daisy turns towards him also and Luigi grabs her hands, "We know, for a fact, that we can defeat Jabrael. We proved it back there in Serenity Isle. If she ever shows her mug here ever again, we will defeat her. Maybe when technology allows us, we can have a more efficient way to travel through the universe, but as of now we don't. E. Gadd is close to a near-light speed rocket, but just not yet. But I promise when he does, we will defeat her once and for all."
Daisy pauses with a frown, taking Luigi's words into consideration. He's right, however; they are stronger than they think. Much stronger; there's no denying that. They managed to defeat the most powerful demon known to Plit without any of them dying! Daisy's frown turns into a smile, "I guess that's true Luigi! Sorry for being nothing but a huge bag of Worried Woman on you!"
"It's fine Daisy..." Luigi brushes off her apology. The green plumber lets go of her hands and turns towards the stars again, leaning over the ledge as he does so. Daisy, also intrigued by the display of lights, follows his actions.
"Man. This view of the stars isn't this great in Sarasaland! I love it here!"
"Yeah," Luigi nods. He himself never been to Sarasaland, but he heard great things from travelers about that place, especially the tea local to Chai there. The view of the stars, though, was never mentioned by such adventurers.
Luigi focuses his attention from the star-filled sky to the Princess of Sarasaland. They'd been out here for awhile now, and the others may be worried about them.
"Daisy, we should go back to the party."
"No. I want to stay out here Luigi. I want to witness this beauty like it will disappear tomorrow," Daisy declined the invitation voiced by the green hero, "Because, you never know; it's still possible that all this can be gone tomorrow! Whether by a bang or a whimper, by evil or by good. We just need to enjoy it and not take it for granted; we need to be thankful for nights like this. We just need to pause from our everyday messes, take a deep breath, look around us and be thankful for everything the Stars gave us!"
Luigi, figuring that Daisy can possibly be right, nods his head. He decides that staying out on the balcony, staring at the heavens with Daisy is a much better option than even Peach's tastiest cakes.
~7~7~7~7~7
"Now it's time for red-velvet cake!" Peach announced to the group, holding onto two trays, a red velvet cake present on each tray. She puts the trays down, focusing her attention on the Koopas, specifically Larry, and emits a smile, "Minus the Knockout potion, please."
The Koopas and the Star Spirits giggle at Peach's objection, remember the event that occurred only five days ago. The princess begins slicing the cake, putting them on plates and passes them out. The Star Spirits got their pieces first, followed by the Sages, Koopas, Violent, Mario and Toad.
"Wow!" Mamar exclaimed as she bites into the cake, "This is great! I haven't had a cake this tasty for over 200 million years!"
"Yeah! It's like... Moist yet it's not at the same time!" Skolar continued, "It's awesome!"
"You did a great job on the roast," Dustie complimented the pink princess, "And now this cake. You never cease to amaze me."
Peach smiles at the compliments she receives, "Thank you all! Thank you so much! Thanks for all the help that you guys gave us during our journey!"
That is when Nature stands up and walks towards Peach's spot of the table. The sage seems like she has a few things on her mind and wants to let the thoughts out vocally.
"You all did a great job, and I thank everyone for doing their parts efficiently. I hope you all never forget about this journey and the good that resulted from it," Nature started.
Peach, as well as the rest of the characters, are eager to hear what the green sage is going to announce to them.
"Always keep in mind... The past is the best teacher, while the future is the best discoverer. We need to take the theories and knowledge we learned from the past, and convert those into tools for shaping and molding our future. Remember this marvelous journey we had in 2001, and let it shape your future for 2002; for 2010; even 2050! Because, without the past, we will never learn. Without the past, there would be no future. Without the past, there will be no change. May that be a lesson for you all. Never regret the past; cherish it. The past makes us who we are in this present day of age. And you guys won! You all saved this wonderful world; there should be no shame!"
"Amen!" the other characters cheer in happiness; a sort of happiness that only those once in the deepest of sorrows and trouble can feel.
~7~7~7~7~7
So, in the end, our heroes went off in their separate directions:
Mario and Bowser agreed to throw off their differences. Now, instead of being archenemies, they decide to be more like rivals. Bowser still kidnaps Peach, but doesn't leave death traps for Mario. Bowser also begins to crash Mario Parties to add a little twist in the games.
Despite this mend between Mario and Bowser, it will take much longer for the Mushroom Kingdom as a whole to welcome Darklandians socially. This is due to decades of hysteria and violence between the two conflicting groups.
Whenever Peach does get kidnapped, Mario rescues her. Otherwise, he mainly offers plumbing services in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Peach still gets kidnapped, but not as often. There are rumors floating around that Mario and Peach may be dating or even engaged, but it has not been confirmed by either of the two.
Toad is still Peach's Royal Retainer, hearing the latest gossip from Peach that nobody else in the Mushroom Kingdom knows about.
Luigi is offered a bedroom in the Sarasaland castle by both Daisy and her parents. Luigi accepted the offer and is planning to move over there come New Year's 2002.
Ludwig decided not to go to university, but rather move out to Pipe Land and help E. Gadd with his inventions in November. He also declined to be the heir of the throne; he stated that he's much more interested in inventing than inheriting the throne.
Lemmy will attend university somewhere in Ice Land. Bowser asked him if he wanted Dark Land's throne since he is the second oldest and Ludwig rejected it, but Lemmy has yet to respond to the offer.
Roy will go back to being a Senior at Dark Land High, as well as playing the Running back position on the Football team.
Iggy has been into chemistry lately as well as pharmaceutical science and biochemistry. With his knowledge, he starts making more varieties of potions than even Ludwig did. Since it is no longer occupied by Ludwig, Iggy uses Ludwig's old lab to work on them.
Wendy is... Still Wendy. Although she still spends her non-school hours putting on makeup, modeling in front of her mirror and talking to her friends, she still has the memory of the journey implanted inside her head. She has mellowed out a bit, but she still has quite a snap.
Morton just can't stop talking about the whole journey, as well as the birthday gift he received. Although he has been given the promise of controlling Serenity Isle, he has to focus on sophomore year and graduation before he can be in control.
Larry, at first, was delighted to be off the journey. However, he was devastated when he saw the conditions of the plants in his greenhouse. Seeing that it was Iggy who almost destroyed his dullberry tree... Well... Let's just say that Iggy is also acting as Larry's slave, as well as his homework-doer, for payback. He's also excited to get his now-starting high school career out of the way so he can reign over Tranquility Isle.
Alex, despite initial thoughts, went back to her mom's house. Let's just say... Alex is grounded for quite awhile for causing an Amber Alert and missing the wedding of a cousin. Her grounding was cut short when Alex's mom found out she helped save the world, but she is still upset about Alex missing the wedding.
Reeka goes back home in Pipe Land to focus on Freshman year of high school. She tells her mom about the adventure; her mother is now Pipe Land's proudest mother.
Despite Ludwig moving out, Violent decides to stay in Dark Land for a few years to attend Dark University. Hearing this trouble, Bowser offers her a room in Kastle Koopa, which she gladly accepted. Violent then suggested that the heroes get together and write a memoir about the adventure. Larry, Wendy, Ludwig, Peach, Toad, Mario and Daisy agreed to tell their accounts of their adventure, while the others generalized the remaining parts of the journey.
Concerning the Star Spirits and the Sages, nothing has been heard of them ever since the party. Maybe now life will be just the same as it used to be without no outside forces trying to take over the world.
Crump also hasn't been accounted for; the heroes believe that Jabrael casted him into the darkest, deepest abyss... However, concerning the fates of Grodus, Vivian, Marilyn and Beldam, also unheard of from the heroes...
~7~7~7~7~7
"Help us! Someone!" Grodus cried from inside a prison cell. Joining him in the cells are the Shadow Sirens, but no Crump is seen.
"Jabrael possessed us!" Vivian cried from the cell.
"GUH!"
"Because we wouldn't join her side!" Beldam sobbed, "Or repeat that stupid spell to give her life! We're no longer evil! She's possessing us to blackmail us!"
"I hope Mario saves us... Or someone..." the three Shadow Sirens sighed.
~7~7~7~7~7
As peace settles into the land, the goomba-toad civil wars have quieted down throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, crime rates have dropped dramatically and the Dark Land-Mushroom Kingdom conflict has eased. Everyone just feels safer as they go to place to place within the boundaries of the Mushroom Continent.
However, a dreaded thought remains on the heroes' minds, even months after the incident: Is Jabrael REALLY gone, or was this journey just the so called 'calm before the storm'?
~7~7~7~7~7
"Ugh! I can't believe that those mortals defeated me!" Jabrael muttered to herself in her realm. Unlike usual, no other shadow figures are around her.
That is when Jabrael starts to grin.
"No worries! Next time, instead of me taking over the world directly, I will have some of those 'heroes' do the dirty work for me! Muhahahaha! Until next time, mortals! Watch your back, 'cuz this lady's gonna get you back!"
~7~7~7~7~7
A/N: Annnnnd that's a wrap for story number one! As some of you know from another A/N that I since deleted, there will be a sequel to this that I will post in the next few days or weeks.
Concerning this story, I will revise it in the near future, so any future updates will be fixes, and not new chapters. I will also not put in new content into the story, so nothing will change; I will only polish up chapters.
So yeah, thanks to all those who reviewed, favorited, followed and whatnot. It was a blast writing this story and I hope you guys felt the same reading it!