So I've decided to go ahead and make a separate story for a lemon or two...maybe three. I also finally went and added a cover to the story! Might be a shorter chapter, but I've got a good reason which you'll see at the end. Anyway, let's get on with it.

Chapter 15: Crisis

Six months passed after that eventful night in the bedroom. Rosalina and Zion continued to live their lives in peace and comfort. Zion continued to train, while guarding and maintaining the observatory. Rosalina continued her duties as guardian, but was becoming much more openly affectionate with Zion, both in and out of the bedroom.

Rosalina had even gotten into the habit of leaving random love notes for Zion to read. While the contents of each note was nothing spectacular, it would warm Zion's heart every time he found one. He would sometimes leave notes for her as well, but not as often. He wanted to try and surprise her with them. Rosalina would still blush at times when asking for certain romantic or intimate gestures, but overall was becoming more confident in everything they did as a couple.

If you could question them, they would say they were happy with the status quo they had built for themselves. Indeed, they were both satisfied and happy with what they had built…until…

One

Fateful

Day

The day had started out like any other. Rosalina woke up and started her day, with Zion doing the same shortly thereafter. They had breakfast together, and were walking to the terrace to relax for a bit before resuming the day's work. However, they stopped when Rosalina turned to face the Beacon, the very core of the observatory.

"Something's wrong. Something doesn't feel right," She said.

"What's the matter?" Asked Zion.

She reached her hand out towards the core. "The Beacon feels like it's under immense strain. Like something is pulling at it."

"What do you-"

Just then, the entire observatory shook, knocking Zion and Rosalina off balance, but they managed to stay upright. Beams of energy began leaking from the beacon at a very high rate of speed. Some of the energy seemed to be converging in a single direction. Rosalina went from worried to distressed in an instant. She reached her hand and wand out to the beacon in an attempt to stem and stop the rapid energy loss.

"Something is draining the star power from the Beacon! This is…" Rosalina was at a loss for words to describe the severity of the situation.

Zion had no magic, there was nothing he could do to control the flow of power with the beacon. However, there was something he knew he could do.

"Try to slow the flow, I'm going to stop whatever is draining it!" His suit was already on, he only needed to put on his helmet which was currently in the nearby garage area. He dashed over and quickly put on the helmet.

"Zion! Please be careful!" Rosalina shouted before he flew off.

"I will!" He launched himself into the air, "I'll be back, I promise!" He flew off in the direction the energy was flowing into space. Whatever was causing this problem didn't matter, he was going to stop it. Whoever was causing it was the enemy, and he was already prepared to do what he must. Fight.

It only took a few minutes of flying, but he saw the suspected enemy in the distance. There were many giant mechanical devices of various shapes and sizes. However, the one that caused him the most concern was a giant cylinder shaped one that had what looked like a vacuum head attached. Said head was where the energy seemed to be flowing.

Of bigger concern, we're the numerous battleships that surrounded and protected the device.

"All right then, that settles that." He began to charge towards the nearest ship, "You've made a big mistake, and a powerful enemy this day." As he got closer to the ships, they began to open fire. Cannonballs went soaring past him, but he was too swift and nimble a target for them to hit.

As he got even closer, he could make out his enemies. 'Goombas, koopas, and their ilk? Rosalina told me a bit about King Bowser when I went to the Mushroom Kingdom.' He aimed for the nearest Goomba on the nearest ship and, spinning at the last second, crushed it under his heels. "I don't care why you're this far out in space, this is your only warning to leave, or I'll crush every single one of you."

His warning was returned by a magikoopa in the back of the ship he was on, "ATTACK!" The goombas and koopas charged forward.

Zion dashed forward in turn. Punching and kicking every Goomba he could, often aiming to knock them off the ship. He tried the same with the koopas, but they often hid in their shells to protect themselves. However, he was just fast enough that he would kick them while they retreated into their shell, becoming an easy projectile for him to use. As he was clearing the ship, he heard more gunfire. He turned in time to see three bullet bills coming right at him. While they were fast, he was without a doubt faster. He dodged the bullet bills as they crashed into the ship. Zion looked to the magikoopa who must have been in charge of the ship. It cast some sort of spell at him, but it was clearly panicking too much to aim properly. He flew over the spell and towards the magikoopa, grabbed it by the head and slammed it against his knee, knocking it out instantly.

He heard gunfire again, and immediately felt the entire ship violently rocking. They were bombarding the defeated ship with as many cannonballs as possible. Whether it was to hit him or sink the ship was irrelevant. He departed from the ship and made his way to the next one. He could hear the ship behind him explode as he flew off. 'Cannonballs most likely hit the ships gunpowder storage,' Thought Zion. "One down," he said aloud as he charged to, and landed on another ship.

Unlike last time, the enemies on the ship scattered and dodged when he came in to land. He was immediately met with an onslaught of hammers. While a hammer strike on its own wouldn't do much to his suit, enough repeated strikes could cause issues. Plus, these guys really knew how to put some force behind throwing hammers.

Dodging to the best of his abilities, he made towards one of the hammer bros, knocking out goombas and koopas along the way. Once he was up close, they fought back. Their hammer gave them a range advantage, and Zion was determined not to activate his weapons yet. 'I only have them for about an hour after I activate the flower. I need to conserve its power for desperate measures.' He continued to engage the hammer bro when his helmet alerted him of another enemy coming at his back. At the last possible second, he jumped into the air. The Koopa that had charged him collided into the hammer bro. Using that to his advantage, he tackled them onto the ground, then delivered power punches to knock them out. He then felt some hammers collide with his back as he was returning to his feet. As he went after the next hammer bro, some more bullet bills were fired at him. He dodged and continued his charge towards the hammer wielding foe. Before he could really engage the hammer bro, something collided with his back that caused a small explosion.

He turned to see a magikoopa holding two bullet bills suspended in the air with magic. 'Clever bastard turned them around.' He couldn't keep his eyes on it for long as he had to dodge a hammer strike. He flew into the air to disengage, which the magikoopa used as an opportunity to throw one of the remaining bullet bills at Zion.

Zion flew underneath and charged for the magikoopa, it had to go first. He got real close and as he prepared for a strike, the magikoopa brought the bullet down directly between them, catching them both in the explosion. The magikoopa was knocked out, but Zion remained standing. Turning back around to the last hammer bro, he could see the thing was now scared. Zion walked towards it, trying to seem as menacing as possible, but before he could reach it, the cannon fire resumed and began to sink the ship he was on. He ignored the doomed hammer bro and flew off.

He quickly checked his suits integrity.

'93%. I need to prioritize avoiding those bullet bills.' He thought. "Two down".

Standing on the deck of the now cleared ship, Zion was starting to breathe heavily. He'd been fighting almost nonstop since he got there. How long had that been? He wasn't sure, he wasn't keeping track of it. There were only two things he was keeping track of.

'Suit integrity, 82%.' That was one.

"8 down…too many more to go." That was the other.

Unlike previous times, the cannons didn't immediately fire upon him, allowing him a moment's reprieve. Looking around, he saw something that was obscured from the initial area he stated. A ship, a big ship, bigger than all the rest.

"You're next," he said with conviction. He kept catching his breath for as long as possible, until he was inevitably stopped by the cannons renewing their attack.

Zion charged towards his new goal, dodging the cannonballs and bullet bills sent his way. He wouldn't let them stop him, he couldn't. Her home was at stake, his home, "OUR HOME!" He yelled while charging full throttle to the ship. When he got close enough, the gunfire stopped, allowing him to land on the deck of the ship unimpeded. "SHOW YOURSELF!" Zion screamed, before resuming to breath heavily.

Then, he heard it, and him. The footsteps were heavy, giving credence to the weight of the one causing them. The roar was loud, reminding Zion of the many beasts he'd fought in his own universe. Then, he saw him.

Teeth as sharp as blades. Scales as rough as sandpaper. A spiked shell as hard as diamonds. Eyes with an evil glint like no other.

"You must be Lord Bowser, King of the Koopas," Zion said with disdain.

Bowser saw fit to laugh, "I must say, while I expected some level of resistance, I didn't expect to find someone like you. Usually, my archnemesis is the only one able to give my minions this much trouble." Bowser folded his arms, clearly not intimidated by Zion taking down eight ships worth of his minions. "So then, who do I have the pleasure of crushing with my own two fists today?"

Zion wasn't amused. He opened his pouch and pulled out the orb with his fire flower. "My name is Zion, I am the knight who protects the observatory from all who endanger it or its inhabitants." He opened the orb and grabbed the flower. "Especially from monsters like you." He crushed the flower and saw the wonderful text appear on his helmet.

Weapon systems online

Power output 100%

Zion activated his blades.

Bowser unfurled his arms and brandished his claws in a threatening manner. He chuckled evilly and said but a single word,

"Showtime"

Decided to cut this chapter in half. How could I NOT with such a great spot to stop it. I won't keep everyone waiting for long.