Chapter 20 Fight! Fight! Fight!

As Mario and the Goldleafs stood outside, Mario couldn't help but notice the kids. They bounced up and down like rubber balls, smiling and laughing like they had just watched the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. Mario couldn't help but smile at that, couldn't help but be reminded of some of his younger cousins, nieces, and nephews when they got excited. It made him feel like this was going to turn out well, and even if it didn't, this whole practice would still be worth it.

"Alright." Opal cracked her knuckles, the sound reverberating in Mario's ears and making him wonder what this training could entail. She smiled with glimmering eyes as she looked at the plumber. "You ready for this?"

"Of course!" Mario said. "I am really pumped for this; any form of help I can get when fighting against Bowser would be more than welcome."

The twins giggled some more. "You're gonna kick Bowser's butt!" Adam exclaimed.

"You're gonna show him who's boss!" said Gabby. "You're gonna punch him really hard in the face and force him to change you back. And he won't even be able to say no! He'll be too scared and impressed by your awesome strength!"

Mario chuckled. "Well, considering Bowser still isn't scared of my strength considering I've beat him time and time again, I somehow doubt that." He shrugged. "But hey! There's a first time for everything, you know? Maybe he will be impressed by my strength this time around."

"Speaking of strength," Opal said, "I think that might be the best area to focus on right now."

Mario blinked. "You do?"

"Oh yes," Opal said with a nod. "And in my opinion, there's only one real way to truly test that out."

Without any warning, she charged toward Mario. Mario gasped, holding up his hands just in time. She grabbed hold of them and started pushing against him, like he was some kind of boulder. He gasped for breath, gritting his teeth as he tried to push back against her.

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind," he said through his grunts.

"No… but it is… a good method, no?" Mario nodded at that, and she grunted some more. "Push up against me! You're not doing this hard enough; you need to try to push me back!"

Mario nodded and tried pushing against her, all while Adam and Gabby watched on bated breath. For a while, neither Opal nor Mario moved. Even with how much he pushed, she seemed to have enough strength to match his. It was discombobulating to say the least.

"How… are you… this strong?" Mario asked.

"I'm a koopa, Mario; koopas have a lot of strength that they're storing up." She took a deep breath and finally managed to push Mario back. He gasped as he went falling butt-first into the dirt, staring at Opal in awe.

However, Opal wasn't even close to done. She readied her fist, rushing towards Mario as if to punch him somewhere on the body. Shrieking, Mario rolled out of the way just in time. But even with that said, Opal wasn't anywhere close to deterred. She aimed another punch at Mario. Then another, and another after that. He rolled out of the way every time, which just seemed to frustrate her.

"Mario, you're not fighting back!" She grabbed him by the hands again, holding him in place. "You need to do something! You're not gonna win in any fight if you don't participate; ESPECIALLY a fight against Bowser!" She leaned forward, so close to Mario's face that he could see each individual scale. "Throw a punch at me! Try to hit me; at least do something!"

Taking in a breath, Mario considered what to do for a second before his instincts took over. He raised his legs and kicked Opal in the stomach, sending her back. He stood up, watching as she held her hand to her belly and sucked some air through her teeth.

"Are you okay?" Mario asked.

Opal sucked some more air in. "I'm fine…" She smirked at him. "That was a good start. But I don't think it's enough."

Much to Mario's surprise, she retreated into her shell. Spinning around, she aimed herself right towards Mario's chest. The plumber ducked to the ground, and when Opal landed, she went right back toward him. This prompted Mario to run away from her, practically tripping over his own feet as the fight/training session turned into a game of chase.

"Pant… pant… pant…" Once again, running around proved to be more difficult than it normal was. The shell on his back might as well have weighed one ton, as it dragged him down and made him feel burdened in a way he never had before. As such, he knew he couldn't keep this chase up forever. Just… why did Koopas have to something on their back that was so cumbersome?

"Mario!" Adam yelled as Mario started running in circles. "Go into your shell!"

Mario blinked, all without stopping. "Go into my shell?"

"Yeah!" Adam yelled back. "Go into your shell so you can ram against her."

Intrigue filled Mario. Honestly, that sounded like a solid plan. It would actually put this giant weight on the hero's back to good use, and it could potentially help in a fight against the "Almighty" Bowser (*snicker* Mario couldn't even think of Bowser in that way without laughing his ass off). Yes, it was a good strategy to employ. The only problem was…

"How do I do that?" he yelled toward the twins.

"Pull yourself inward!" Gabby responded. "Your legs, your arms, your head; pull all of them in! Shrink back a little bit!"

Shrink back a little bit… he could do that. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his arms closer to himself. It was kind of like putting a shirt on in reverse, and it worked beautifully. Mario pulled his legs in, then his head. Before long he was completely inside the monstrous red shell. This was great, but how was he supposed to…?

WHAM!

Mario shrieked when Opal rammed herself into him, making him shoot forward like a ball on a pool table. He went soaring forward, his shell rotating at incredible speeds. Trying to keep himself from hyperventilating, he tried to formulate a plan. How could he recover from this? He should probably figure out how to take control of the shell. But how could he do that?

Really, how could he do that? He had never done anything even remotely similar to this before, and as such it felt a little wonky. But… you know what? He could do it. He was Super Mario, and he could learn to control a Koopa shell. If koopas were able to do it with ease, then so he could he.

The first thing he tried to do was lean his body toward one side of the shell. He expected that to cause the shell to move in that direction, and… he was actually right! The shell moved to the right, changing course entirely. Smiling at the progress he was making, Mario shifted himself around, making the shell turn around. His satisfaction levels were so high that it actually caused him to laugh. This was cool! This was really cool, not to mention fun!

But he couldn't focus on that right now; he needed to fight back against Opal. He steered the shell so that he was going back in the opposite direction. Using the hole that his head was supposed to pop out of, he looked down the path, trying to see where exactly Opal was. He spotted her immediately, and she must've spotted him too because she came in the exact direction that he was moving toward. Smiling, Mario raced towards her. He was so close to knocking her over. Just a few more feet… just a few more inches, and…

KABLAM!

Opal went flying backward, all while Mario kept moving through his shell. He laughed out loud when this happened, trying to bring himself to a halt so that he could exit his shell and see how Opal was faring from that strike. It took a little bit, mostly due to how much he was accelerating. For a few seconds, Mario was worried that he wouldn't stop, that he would continue spinning around until he passed out. Thankfully, he eventually found a solution; he stuck his left arm out and brought himself to a halt that way. Sure, he got a dirty, nasty scrape on his palm, but… eh, who cares?

Pulling himself out of his shell, Mario rose to his feet. Once he was fully upright, he let out a breath and turned back around. To his horror, he saw the twins gathered around their mother while she looked dazed, confused, and possibly hurt. This greatly affected Mario's emotions.

"Oh, Mama Mia," he muttered. He ran over to the Goldleafs, fearing the worst the closer he got to them. "Opal? Are you alright?"

Opal groaned as she held her hand to her head, all while Mario's heart pounded. Did he hurt her? Did he give her a concussion? Or dear word, if she was hurt because of him… if he hurt her while she was in the process of training him…

"I… I'm alright," Opal said. The twins backed up as she rose to her feet. She stumbled a little, prompting Mario to provide her with some support.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, if you need some medical attention…"

Opal burst into laughter. "Oh, Mario. You really know nothing about Koopas." She faced him with a sparkle in her eye. "We can take pretty much ANY beating. We're one of the toughest, least fragile species in the whole Mushroom World. It takes more than a simple hit to kill us. Hell, we can be dunked in lava ten times and still come out without a scratch.

Mario was about to challenge that assessment… until he remembered some of his fights with Bowser. Didn't the fact that Bowser came out of the worst fights seemingly without a scratch kind of support Opal's claim?

"Huh. I guess you're right!" He laughed. "So you're doing okay?"

"Absolutely." She prompted Mario to let go of her, which he did. She stood up to her full height, facing him with a smile that looked REALLY satisfied. "But enough about me. You did really well!"

"You think so?" Mario asked.

"Yes!" Opal didn't just look happy with him; she looked proud of him. "You managed to fight back against all my attacks, AND you found out how to steer your shell! For someone who never had one before, that's pretty impressive!"

Mario's heart welled with positivity. "Grazie!" He had a thought, causing him to laugh. "Although, I imagine you guys never had to think about controlling your shells. You were born with them; you probably knew exactly what to do from day one. Right?"

Opal looked at the twins before they all collectively laughed. "Well… yeah," Opal said. "It is kind of second nature."

"I wouldn't even call it 'second nature,'" said Gabby. "It's more like instinct."

"Yeah. I can see that," said Opal after a second of thought. She looked back at Mario. "But still. For someone who never had that instinct, you did really well. FRIGHTENINGLY well."

Mario's face grew warm. "Thank you." He smiled. "Seriously, thank you. I think knowing how to control my shell would be invaluable for me in a fight against Bowser."

"That it will," Opal said with a nod. "That it will."

Suddenly, the back door to the house opened and out came Michael. Like most of the times Mario had seen him, he had a smile on his face so big and genuine that it told everything one needed to know about his character. "Hey guys! We still have a little bit until lunchtime, but what do you say we take Mr. Mario to a diner?"

The twins squealed in delight and ran over to their father. "That would be great, Daddy!" said Gabby.

"It would be more than great; that would be the bestest, most awesomest thing to do ever!" exclaimed Adam, garnering a laugh from Michael and Opal.

"Well," Opal said after recovering. She turned back to Mario. "What do you think? Does lunch at a diner sound good?"

Mario didn't even need to think about that. "That sounds lovely. Thank you."