Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)
Ouroboros, part 1 (Chapter 17)
Disclaimer: Mario and co. belongs to Nintendo.
Author note: I implied I wouldn't be afraid to break chapters up. How about I practice that?
"-You don't hafta bring that up. I got it handled. The toads brought our valuables from Hotel Mario. It only involved a blue polka dot bed sheet, no other color would do, five gyros from Club Gamecube, Joseph's vibrator- his alarm clock for the deaf, not.. and lastly for one of them to dress up as Pauline to distract the receptionist. Voilà ."
"...Was ALL that necessary to get them safely down South?"
"Haha. Good catch. No but that's what they get for misbehaving according to Toadette. The MKDCU brought Kinopio-Kun down too. We removed his phone. Kids am I right?"
"Hold on.. How'd you find those crazy health inspectors pard?"
"Your janitor gave me the number. His brother's a founder."
"Probabilly? He ain't mentioned that! That makes him overqualified to sweep around. Small world.."
"Literally smaller, homeboy. Ours is half the size of the Real World Earth."
"Oh, you remembered that! Toad's right, with about seventy percent the population. At least when I, unlike Mario, studied humanities in the eighties."
"Hey! It's definitely grown since, little brother!"
"The population, not the planet. I don't think its girth works like that. It's not your waistline!"
The toad and green plumber fist bumped, nestled in the back of the ostro drawn carriage. Toad had a blanket around him muffling the rhythmic beat of his portable heart monitor. Mario was up front with Jr. Troopa, ignoring that comment. He presented himself classically, red shirt and overalls. Clothes made the man, accompanied by a neatly trimmed beard, to be recognizable and salient yet metamorphosed. This was his swan song of an adventure on his terms, not because any action of Bowser's was a 'victory', at least in the grand scheme. For Troopa the Special World doctor's difficulties many miles away reflected on him. If he assisted Mario and gang, a complete 180 to the antics he had an old reputation for, that would prove to Mr. X that he was responsible and buy more time. Luigi was wary of his wrist watch. He promised a Boo he'd be back in Town in an hour to investigate the dilemma with the King's guards. It wasn't looking like that would work out. The terrain actively fought the squeaking wooden wheels and ostro boots on the four beasts, weaving around coconut filled palm trees, traveling down a beachy stretch that skirted Desert and Water Land. This rough and rowdy passage would allow them to beat the K64 to Sky Land while avoiding any major junctions. Bowser would be caught with his shell down. They would rescue Peach and Toadsworth, restore order to Toad Town, create an environment where they could cure the Mushroom Flu, and NOT waste time plundering or whatever Captain Toad's greedy endeavors were.
"One thing my staff wouldn't tell me though was how Gold was holding up."
Luigi cut in. "You handled those other matters, let us tackle that. You're exerting more than you should by riding with us. Until we rescue Peach you're the sovereign of the Mushroom Kingdom!"
"Does anyone see me like that?"
"I do."
"..Aww. Thanks. (Always wanted to hear you say that..)"
"..Usually. Sometimes you deserve-"
"Ouch!"
"Oww!"
"Settle down!" admonished Troopa, reigns in one hand, holding down his cowboy hat with the other. Funnily like Mario he didn't care for banter..
"Luigi, you won't regret picking me. I'm kinda surprised I made the cut over Daze I'm tryin to say." Toad's rasp was void of any humor, so much so that if he didn't watch him utter it, he might not believe it came from him.
"I mean I am thinking about her.."
Each life in peril was precious, fueling a visceral urge to stomp Bowser. Hawk eyed Southerners spotted goombos, nyololins, chikakos and other Sarasaland species their dialect butchered, hovering about their princess in her new high security room. Elucidation that Toad made up aliens unphased the Southerners who insisted extraterrestrials routinely visited their crops. Her people acknowledged her stable but non improving condition in a benign way for now. They were allied. No one wanted this to threaten that.
"-And?"
"It wasn't frivolous. I remembered something you told me once about your medical records. Don't get any survivor guilt. We're gonna fix everybody!" Luigi roused valiantly.
Toad's feverish hand brushed his shoulder. "I believe ya.."
He smiled at his only friend or relationship not contingent on Mario, what could be said of Peach, Yoshi, Daisy- even Boo who was met initially at a Mario Party. Toad was different. In the early days with a larger cliquish troupe of toads at the castle, Mr. Toad, despite his extraversion, hung with the 'lesser' reclusive Mario brother of his own volition. Being out of the box thinkers made them click. When Toad grew older and it was time for Yellow and Blue toads to take on that adventuring mantle, their quirky relationship remained immutable...
"-Psst, partners. He's knocked out up here."
Mario was slumped back, red duffle bag cradled in his lap like a teddy bear.
It clapped Luigi back into reality. How did he do it? There was no canopy on the buggy. Sweat was boiling on their foreheads. Kleptos kept circling. The seats were stiff. The ostros occasionally got sick of being driven, twisted around and pecked one of them at random as they entered Giant Land, a rural kingdom with mild to tundra conditions. The behemoths in the spotted villages weren't friendly, chasing their carriage beyond brush the size of trees, trees the size of buildings, and buildings the size of skyscrapers. Mario slept through it all! Luigi poked him once they'd escaped into a brown mountainous valley. He stirred. Good, not in a coma or anything..
"Psst. Again. I love his beard.." Troopa cooed spontaneously. Mario's hat was safely in grasp, so that the wind couldn't whisk it off and, unsubtly, so the red plumber's spiffy fade haircut, a touch of grey adoring the sides, was out there.
"It makes him look masculine and mature and not a beardfish like King Elderberry. Break it down for me. You uh, into that?" Toad asked, flushing.
Troopa turned his head slightly. "You? I didn't wanna tell em this to his face. That'd be weird. He's known me forever." His natural tone was peeking through.
"Is it the older thing? ..Or the human part?"
"Well there Mr. Toad, I can't go any further 'cause of gossipin' nurses over yonder. I will admit, umm, it's been my weakness for a while..."
"Oh…What do you like about them? The- the hair, skin tones, distinct stature or?-"
Luigi sprung. "-Who is Elderberry, Toad?"
Left over skittishness from giants almost pouncing them allowed trepidation to get the best of him. Inter-species matters being the only topic they'd never delved into, miraculously given the years, and Toad being a peer of dogmatist Chancellor Toadsworth insinuated he might possess some partisan views.
"I told you before, haven't I? Peach's dad… Are you switching the subject?"
Busted. The green plumber settled back, hiding his blush with the bifold map.
Toad giggled mischievously. "Hey, how bout I ask YOU then what cha think about love?"
Luigi wanted to face palm. He could not out gadfly Toad! Instead of a 'counter-maneuver' he chose to be honest. "I don't want to repudiate this concept totally, but I'm unsure heroes are meant to even have partners. People I never thought: Yoshi and Birdo, Bucken-Berry and Toadette, and…our local eternal frenemies.. If I've been blessed with this outside perspective I'm not going to squander it. I'm vowing to remain single."
For the first time during the trip Toad went silent. His world shook. Rocks tumbled down in their path with the loud rumble of fracturing sedimentary rock. Their ostros went buck wild, catapulting them out of control though the rest of the canyon. It led to a dried salt lake where the reigns severed. Their carriage dumped the four out in a ball. The mountain passage behind them was filled up with heavy rocks, blocking the way back. They were stranded.
"Momma mia! I'm up. I know the game is today!" Mario rubbed his head.
"Wish I was dream'n too, pard." Jr. Troopa, with an elasticity from his comparative youthfulness, rose first. He prepared a lasso. Problem was, he had one and there were four big birds to catch.
"Wait," Mario slyly nodded to his brother and Toad. "Let's show Jackson how we roll." He opened the red duffle back, the interior emitted a glow visible even against the off white salt bed.
A ratty noisy kart sped down a windy road. It ran parallel to a river with its own source of commotion, blocked by thin metal railing. Lemmy glared at his brother flailing his arms. A human was rowing frantically to keep up and a startled noki woman rigidly clutching an open umbrella was the last occupant. Ludwig must have hijacked that couple's gondola. What a douche!
Lemmy cranked his passenger window down, the knob snapping off in his hands. "Whoops… Oh my goodness Luddy's so disgusting. Look at him! Huh? Huh? Huh? See him? Huh? Huh?"
"-I FREAKING SEE!"
"Dramatic much?" Lemmy laughed until the cabbie pulled out a shotgun, SS HQ engraved on the metal barrel, aimed across his lap and out of the window. He quickly shoved it away. "You can't shoot my brother!"
"It's the others," he spat, his face a deep fuchsia.
"What are they cops? I'm legally here and not Ludwig. Shouldn't they arrest him? Not work with him?"
The pink boo groaned, exasperated. "Alright. They're enemy spies!"
Lemmy rolled his eyes. "Does everybody have to lie today? Here," He grabbed the shotgun. "I have no qualms if this will get me home quicker."
"Kid, what are ya doing-?"
Lemmy cocked the gun twice the length of him. "Shooting the 'enemy spies'," he replied sarcastically. He stuck his head out the window. "Luddy, duck!" He fired repeatedly, shells popping out and bouncing on the road behind them.
On the river, Ludwig fell backwards on deck, the other two crouching with him. Bullets rippled the water, striking the hull. Only then did the blue haired koopaling notice that there were steel reinforcements lining the sides, deformed inwards now. There were other items stashed down there he didn't heed earlier, clothes in a cryogenically sealed bag, a picnic basket with grenades hidden under the flap, a completely metal suitcase with a thumbprint reader that was disabled and replaced with a normal lock at some point, and a silver pistol with a shopping tag stating 'Not a gun'.
"I should have been armed like I desired," the noki hissed, tossing away her umbrella. "But nooo a madame like me only needs to zit and look pretty!"
"Lady, it-a would have not made a difference with what they're-a packin!." The human sent her a nasty look before manning the bow. His top hat was blasted away in the firefight, revealing golden brown hair and pointed ears. More shockingly however, the cab was over the horizon. "Ah, I-a had it under control. We can beach here and track them-a on foot."
The noki resigned to his suggestion, crossing one leg over and folding her arms, confounding Ludwig regarding their overtly casual reaction. They drift against the bank. The noki and human hopped over board and barreled across the mud and reeds, not minding their expensive formal clothing. The man had shed his dress coat and the lady her hair bows and jewelry.
"You have forgotten something." Ludwig stepped out of the gondola and into the soggy soil and rushes, revealing the 'not gun' in a cheeky fashion. He had his own zapper, but this one was weightier, formidable.
"Oui Monsieur Koopa, because it is not a gun," she said, just a tiny bit like he was a daft.
"Correct. Not not a gun," Ludwig reiterated as they crossed the street.
"No. He-a needs to throw that-a back. It's-a not not not a gun."
"I concur!" Ludwig swung it around a finger.
"You're-a still holding it!.. It's not not.. Get rid of it!" They yelled at once.
"I surrender. Very well." He smirked and did no such thing as they entered an uncharted dense forest, land that was not on the Poshley city map. He soon understood why when he plucked a real estate development sign from the ground. He hid his reaction to the strangers, the maelstrom of emotions it shot through him, and regrets of yesterday crushing him. It sapped his somewhat optimistic feelings he had prior. Why, back on the boat, he'd combated one of those 'glitches' Geno warned about. His vision dimmed with familiarity, the faint geometric shape returned, however he bit his tongue, rather hard, and it beget control over his soul again.
(Bonjour.)
Ludwig blinked.
(I'm a different French noki, a third and unwitting passenger in the taxi you seek)
Ludwig itched the back of his neck where it pinged from. So desensitized at this point, every word channeled to his brain had unchallenged verity.
(.. I am not replete. Tell them. M, jammed his transponder. They need to.. Search.. Three miles to every degree..)
Ludwig relayed that out of the blue. The two looked at him incredulously. Ludwig decided to convince them with the pistol. Now they treated it like a real gun.
…
Free from harassment as the road distanced from that river, Lemmy could try to enjoy the good parts of classic land yacht style kart. Aside from the rattling, sputtering, and smoke spewing that reminded him of a short lived clunker Roy owned because he thought he was a mechanic briefly, it had deep cushions, so much that without a booster seat he had to consciously lean up to properly sight see. There was a courtyard filled with red trumpet shaped Amaryllis flowers leading to stone patios for outside dining. Statues of mushroom people were spaced perfectly apart. Then there were fairgrounds, with actual toads there, some on a carousel, the Ferris wheel, and at stands getting colorful balloons. It was a dignified occasion with only adults despite what looked like a ton of fun to Lemmy. That led to an entire palace the shape of Peach's Castle, identical color scheme, if doubled in floors and with a golden gate surrounding it instead of a drawbridge. The stained glass in the front had the Mushroom Crest, the same for the flags flapping from poles on the spires. What. The. Heck. He was being toured square into secret Mushroomite territory that wasn't on their Koopa Troop maps.
Worse yet, they veered off road, squashing some traffic cones. More nuts and bolts flung off.
"Umm, this way kinda sucks.."
"Just a detour kid."
Rigidly seated, Lemmy saw a mound of that red dirt that meant construction was going on. They crossed cranes and tractor trailers. A plethora of roll off dumpsters were filled with recently cleared brush. There was a huge yellow Earth mover next to a deep trench that wrapped around some land that already had parts of a foundation laid. There was a tube going down it, the other end disappearing into the forest.
"To where?"
"The lake."
"What lake?"
"You're right. Probably not much of it left. Should still be deep enough, hehe."
They wrapped around another corner, where Lemmy located that tube again at a clearing. The cab pulled up slowly to what would have been a lake, now a basin with a smaller but still deep amount of blue shimmering water at the bottom.
The cabbie parked with a crazy smirk. "Ya might wanna get out, hehe."
Lemmy muttered 'drats'. "Seriously? I shot at so-called spies, bruised my index finger, my ears sorta ring now, and we gotta stop here? Is this because I don't know my pin to pay you for the mileage so far?"
The smile dropped. "What?!"
The koopaling laughed nervously. "That.. Yeah I forgot that I never knew the pin in the first place because it's Ludwig's card."
The pink boo lunged over and choked the koopaling out. Lemmy was panicked and.. Surprised it took this long really. He did it right back until they were mutually blue in the face. The cabbie, older and slightly out of shape but brawny, wasn't giving up without his fare, and Lemmy, highly athletic despite his waifish arms, wasn't either. He didn't have a check book so he kinda had to win this or else. Off to the side, picked up by his lazy eye, Lemmy saw three folks coming at them.
"Okaytimeout!" he ground out.
They let go, gulping for air. Lemmy recovered quicker, utilizing that armistice to replay it all with the little bit of oxygen in his brain. His determination to get away from Ludwig clouded his judgment. This couldn't be a real cab.. He'd never shared where he wanted to go! He whipped out his phone and texted someone special.
"W-what cha doing now k-kid?" the pink boo growled hoarsely, holding his scruffy neck.
Lemmy pointed a thumb backwards. "Umm. Telling my brother to leave me alone. See? See? Huh? Huh? See him?"
"Freaking kid!"
"No really."
The cabbie gaped at the view of his side mirror. He scrambled to shift them into drive. Lemmy realized what was happening and clasped onto the cabbie's hand mashing the pedal extender for legless drivers, too late to stop the tires from spinning in the loose soil. They were going into the pit-
…
The trio didn't know what to expect following the blip on the radar all through land adjacent to the territory of the Mushroom King. When they burst out of the greenery and found the cab less than twenty feet away from that lake, it became deathly clear. Before they were on it, the car jetted off.
"Mon dieu!" The noki cried into the human's bosom, the most genuine emotion Ludwig had seen yet."
"Got it covered, madame." The koopaling parted though the two and fired the pistol, aiming for the wheels. There was a bang as a long hook was fired, looping around the bumper. After a split second, he knew what was happening. The cable was running out with the vehicle less than five feet away.. "Grab on!"
The noki's hands clutched his waist and the human hers. The trio were yanked forward as the cable stretched taut. The bottom frame violently tore off into the basin, leaving the hooked chassis to plop down and hang half over the edge. Ludwig was panged sick seeing his brother beat against the back windshield. The only doors were hanging in the air and the bumper was warping in the middle. This squeezed the frame in a way that the trunk area went convex. A small hand came out, felt around, then pressed a button next to the keyhole, popping it open. Another noki crept out, lessening the weight but not enough, in a Hawaiian shirt, belling to their feet weakly. He'd been beaten, even bound judging by deep red scars in his wrists and ankles.
"Why is 0064 like-a this?" The human grunt.
"He is in denial diabetic zhat's pretend to be 35 for the last few years.."
A lightbulb went off. "Madame, there's a disgustingly sugar rich snack in my pocket!"
She felt Ludwig up, the koopaling detecting in the corner of his vision jealous eyes on him. Oh cut him a break! "Other pocket woman.." She located the protein bar from the train, dropping it into the male noki's limp hand. He sluggishly took a bite, through the package. Like he was struck with a bolt of lighting, he launched to his feet. Ludwig knew those trashy things were lab experiments gone wrong! He made one extra tug on the rope. With a dirt flinging scrape, the sedan was scraped off the ledge. As everyone behind the male noki collapsed over each other, Lemmy tumbled out of the hoopty with a busted lip, some whiplash and sparkly glass shards coating him.
"Guys.. That was AWFUL! So glad I didn't prepay.."
The male noki pulled Lemmy up by the plastron. "I am Detective Bond. Where is M?"
"Huh? ..Oh. Well he wasn't wearing a seat belt sooo." Lemmy shrugged. "Click it or ticket, right?"
Upon closer inspection, the front windshield was shattered. Bond dove to his knees, obsessively peering down the basin for traces of the pink boo until the other noki and human pulled him away.
"Mon frère! M can evanesce at will. Let it go." As he reluctantly stood with her, they were the same height and favored greatly in proximity. They embraced, kissed on the cheek, then pulled apart. She then ventured with some venom, "Now what put YOU here so zat we had to help you out of la prision?"
Bond had a flash of guilt, evident on his round sunglasses free face. "Does it matter Maria?" He shifted around her. "Did my brother in law know 0088 sabotaged that cake? Or did you?"
She scoffed, slapping him. "As if!"
"You dangled me from a skyscraper once."
"Because you forgot my anniversary."
"Well why would I celebrate that when you two have been meaning to divorce for a decade?"
"Hey!" Waldo, the human barged in. "..It's-a complicated."
"And enough about your in-law. How about your roommate? Did N know you were apprehended? No warrant from HQ sayz not! He will know eventually mon frère, for zhat Sirena Beach you should be at is no more!" His sister and husband cornered Jelectro.
Bond's fists balled, forcing out. "Aye aye aye! N's niece brought me to Toad Town. She was sick and yes Jeremy and I are moving, he's adopting a dog, and yes he will appoint a new captain soon. That is why the Toad Town HQ is turning on me. As if it is not enough that there is Mushroom Flu from Bowser!"
Lemmy and Ludwig, their bearings still eluding them, silently began to back away into the forest blindly until they were at the construction zone again. Workers in hardhats forced them to dive behind a dumpster for cover.
Once those toad feet had shuffled away, Lemmy began, hard and insistent, "I'm sorry I ran off like that. Just.. Oh my God," he sighed out. "I couldn't face it or believe that you were gone and not at the same time. I didn't hold my end of the promise did I? Here's what I never said before. You last night, 'possessed' or whatever, hunted down Zoo, stole his bell, rang it, and it phased into the sky. That's when all heck broke loose. So.. if you were given a second chance to destroy that dark star thing.. What's gonna happen to you afterwards? Will you be dead dead?"
Bludgeoned, Ludwig slid downwards against the metal paneling to the ground. He explained raggedly, "I am held together by Rosalina's esoterics and will go nowhere until my mission is complete."
"That's not what I asked."
"But that is the answer!" He flipped through the lexicon they'd purchased, claws were too shaky to spread apart the pages. "Are you with me? I cannot do this without you! That is the sole reason I've let Wendy O. take prominence and placate our family, comrades, and associates who are infinitely entrenched in their ways, and certainly will not be inclined to assist until, I fear, irreparable damage is done."
"I called a way home."
"How?"
"You'll see. Do you know the Mushroom King is living here secretly? What's this supposed to be?"
"The new location of Peach's Castle." Ludwig showed him the picket sign with the layout for emphasis. "He appears to be aiming for a 1:1 replica. For instance her garden would go right about there."
"-And I need you mon ami to go right about.." Jelectro snatched his cold arm towards him, far stronger than he appeared. "With me." The three spies had snuck up on them.
Waldo secured Lemmy in the air. "What the heck did we do? I wasn't with that boo! I mean I know I shot at you and Ludwig is responsible for the Mushroom Flu but.."
"Lemmy," Ludwig murmured.
"Hold on, show them the special memento you were given."
The blue haired koopaling lifted his head, rife with perplexity, "It is.. In my shell."
Jelectro huffed, realizing he was forced to play along with this obvious ploy. Alarmingly his more rookie agents were buying it. "Maria, verify."
"Read what it says from his mind."
"Ha ha ha, no.." He flushed. "Do not be silly, petite soeur. Check."
"NO!" Waldo snapped. "I don't-a want her touching him again."
"Aye aye aye!"
The brothers winked. At this rate they estimated they could hold them for hours. It was even physically affecting Jelectro they thought at first as he grimaced, releasing Ludwig.
His sister had to catch him. "I am not loco. He has done zhat all our life and he tries to deny every time zhat he is like our parents Hot Foot and Pokey who had the ability to-"
"Run from here.." Jelectro muttered.
Everyone was shaken off their feet by the quake. Birds flew from trees all over, metal and machinery clanged, and in the distance toad workers screamed and fled. Water gushed from the pipe siphoning water into the new moat, broken and spewing it over the flat ground. They scattered. Behind them the torrent lifted everything in seconds, from the toads, to all but the heaviest equipment, swept away with the flow. Ludwig and Lemmy stuck together sprinting across the street. A car honked, narrowly missing them. They kept going through a riparian zone, wadding the river, then through red flower fields, the ground practically bouncing them along. They became tangled up with each other and rolled down hill, smacking against something solid...
Ludwig opened his eyes, staring at a fifteen or twenty foot statute of a human woman, in a dress. She had ringlets and a pouty expression, hands clasped in front of a brooch on her dress. What did it remind him of?
"A koopaling, eh?"
"Two!"
"It is! Ruuunnn!"
Toads had already abandoned the courtyard patios and fair rides when the earthquake began. Upon finding them it became a frenzy. An alarm sounded from hidden speakers and fake rocks. Behind golden gates, guards were spilling out of two red doors of the palace. In the stained glass there was a silhouette of a man. No doubts about who it was.
"So en mist.." Ludwig turned to Lemmy sprawled out beside him. "This is a grave mistake!"
Lemmy lifted up woozily, paling at the sight of the guards swinging open the gates. He checked his now shattered phone again. "No. I mean yes, but.. Up here. Quick!" He vaulted up to the statue's elbow. "Come on!"
Ludwig reached his arms out. "Some assistance?"
"Oh yeah.."
Lemmy hauled him up as Mushroom guards charged through all of the flowers, ripping the roots up in haste. About thirty gathered at the base of that statue and raised their super scopes, but could not pull the trigger, not at the image of Peach's mother.
"Do you have your zapper?" Lemmy asked, anxiously.
He'd already fired at him, so what Lemmy wanted made Ludwig apprehensive. Nevertheless, "I do."
"Shoot in the sky. I think that's the problem."
"What?"
"I know I don't deserve it, but trust me!"
Ludwig plugged an ear and expended its shots in the sky. The guards below flinched, then loaded. Now Ludwig was sure they'd proceed to blast them away regardless. If not them, it might be the dots in the distance, toads on the palace roof with long range super scopes, or perhaps he might lose balance and break his own neck on the figure's sloped and narrow shoulders- Or that rocket heading their way would do them in.
It soared over their heads the first time, then rounded back, firing a blue beam at them. Ludwig became weightless as the entirety of Poshley Heights and its devastation, crumbled buildings, glass coating the streets, pedestrians amok, a train derail, scrolled blisterly fast one hundred beneath their floating toes.
"Kon'nichiwa, Luddy and Lemmy-sama! Fascinating place. Took a while since they'd censored coordinates from Boogle Maps, but I know that signal anywhere. You guys will totally be in the news, though. I didn't have time to fire lasers at their recording equipment."
"We already were," Ludwig quipped. He'd not seen this cyborg side of Iggy yet. He was excited, impressed, and afraid at once of the possibilities. There was no wind or sensation of forward propulsion, the tractor beam suspending them. "Are there any adverse side effects to this method of travel?"
"It might dislodge items from your pockets. Don't let it be your wallet!" Iggy Delta saluted.
Ludwig decided to unwind. Being able to 'fly' in a way, Lemmy in fact held his arms out like a bird, the two elder siblings grinned at each other quite stupidly. Ludwig knew he'd always have Lemmy and Lemmy Iggy and Iggy-
"-My sensors are picking up a new friend of mine half a lightyear away. Hang tight."
The engines went into turbo, blasting them up higher. The Earth shrunk below him. Ludwig could have sworn there was a divide in it, like a cosmic scythe ran across the land masses in a perfect line. He was distracted shortly by something escaping his hammer space pockets. He had to save that memento, the original business card of the Council of Conscientious Villainy signed by its original founder, their uncle Clarentine Koopa…
To be continued: …
Author note: So this being a multipart ends us on a weird spot. It was necessary after consideration. As much as I wanted to show all angles of this cataclysmic event (spoiler) it was overwhelming so enjoy this 'almost' hope spot.
I forgot to mention last chapter: 'Brutality and Complexity', in addition to being a chapter title reused from the old Redux, it is also named after a demo from the experimental speedcore/metal band NOISM.
Split from previous: 8/17/22, 8/22/ parts removed added to previous, 8/27, 8/29, 9/1, 9/2-9/4, 9/5- 9/7, 9/8-9/10 (notes some dates refer to sections moved to the next part), 9/11, 9/12
