Chapter Six:
Nowhere Left to Run
He watched Bob hit the ground, he watched him become consumed by the T-Pose zombies, and he didn't have a hint of sympathy in his heart.
It was because of Bob that he'd lost Luigi to them and nobody escaped Karma forever.
Try to be the Karma Houdini all you want, but justice always came for you in many forms. Bob abandoned the Mario Brothers and tried to keep them stuck inside, slowing them down enough for the zombies to catch up. And thus, the sleazy and shady Garo had it coming.
"Bi-atch!" Mario yelled.
He backed away from the edge and the anger melted away, replaced with sadness. He stood there on the castle roof, wondering what else was left in this world. He couldn't think of spaghetti, that wasn't so important to him at this time.
Who cared about spaghetti, especially when the world around you was being overrun by T-posing zombies who used to be people you knew and loved?
"Mama mia..." Mario muttered, 'I'm the only one left in this universe, there doesn't seem to be anyone else. Is Mario the last man on Earth? If everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond has turned into a mindless T-poser and I'm the only one... Oh no.'
If Mario was the last man on Earth, with nobody else left, then forget spaghetti. For the first time in his life, the fat Italian was truly alone.
No brother, no friends, and no spaghetti. Mario didn't know what else to do.
Dread filled his heart as he looked up, seeing Luigi, Meggy, SMG4 and the others, gliding towards him, their arms spread in a T pose. Mario's sorrow turned to fear, his eyes went wide and he stepped back, stepping towards the edge of the castle roof.
His own brother, their friends, they were getting closer by the second. And Mario didn't know what other options he had, he could try to fight, but it would be fighting a hopeless battle. He could try to run, but one step off that roof and he would be taken by the zombies below. Mario was cornered and there was no way out.
This was the end, the T-Pose Zombie Apocalypse was about to claim one final victim and nobody knew what the source of it was, even though Shroomy appeared to be Subject Zero of the crisis. Did he spread the whole thing around the land in one day, without anyone noticing and without the news reporting the matter, and his last stop was Peach's Castle?
None of it mattered. Mario was whimpering and yelping, his knees quivered and the hairs on his neck stood up.
"I never got to have that golden spaghetti." He remarked.
He braced himself as they came closer, their eyes staring into his soul, and all ready to make him one of them. Mario thought of the spaghetti he'd eaten and his mind was overwhelmed with a barrage of memories he cherished or regretted;
Mario remembered the day of his meeting with his brother Luigi, followed by the day when he had his first spaghetti meal while Bowser kidnapped Peach at the orphanage. Then he recalled the day he met Adolf Hitler when he traveled to 1930s Germany with E. Gadd's time machine, that had been quite the time travel adventure.
Closer and closer, the zombies came, and his heart pounded.
He remembered finding Peach's cake was a lie, when SMG4 had an account crisis, when they faced SMG3 for the first time. He remembered when he and SMG4 were chased by the Chain Chomp, when they met Fishy Boopkins, when Ganondorf kidnapped Peach and when they met Bob. Memories of his meeting with Meggy bubbled forth, followed by the day Saiko came to life.
No time was left, Mario was inches away from becoming a T-Pose zombie. He was ready to join his brother and Meggy and everyone else.
The fat Italian was regretting that he and Luigi wouldn't be able to have fun together again, that he and SMG4 would never make videos again, and that Meggy would likely never succeed in becoming the Splatfest champion as she'd dreamed of becoming.
Oh man, perhaps Inkopolis was facing the same crisis the Mushroom Kingdom was going through right now.
But then, when it looked like doom was nigh, Mario heard helicopter noises and the zombies stopped advancing. He looked up, watching as a military-class chopper appeared with Princess Peach manning a rail-gun. Mario was surprised, he did not even expect this to happen. He almost thought Peach was infected and somewhere in that crowd down below.
"Princess?!" He exclaimed.
Peach stared over Mario's shoulder, staring at the T-Pose Zombies with disdain in her eyes. She clenched the handle of the gun and declared a Terminator-style "hasta la vista, baby".
A gloved womanly finger squeezed the trigger and the barrel of the gun erupted. Mario ducked and took cover, but instead of bullets, green 1-Up Mushrooms exploded from the gun and rained down upon the T-Posing zombies on the roof.
The first Mushroom hit Luigi and went into his body right as another mushroom struck Meggy, followed by Bowser, Shroomy and Toad. Mario watched, wondering what was about to happen. Then, Luigi sat up, blinking and gasping, his arms relaxing. The green-clad Italian rubbed his head and Mario ran towards him, laughing happily.
Who could have thought the cure would be 1-Up Mushrooms? Man, the Mushroom Kingdom was such an amazing place.
"Oooh, my head." Meggy groaned as she sat up on her knees, her eyes rolling with a hint of dizziness. Mario breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the beanie-wearing Inkling back to normal like Luigi made him happy.
"Wh-What happened?" Bowser groaned, his eyes wide with surprise.
"Oooh, man." Fishy Boopkins quipped in a confused manner.
"Golly gee." Shroomy mumbled.
Mario watched as Peach's attack helicopter flew upward and the princess rained more 1-Up Mushrooms upon the T-Posing victims surrounding the castle. The Toad pilot pressed a button and a massive 1-Up Mushroom dropped from the chopper and exploded over the T-Posers. Mario and the others took cover as the green mushroom cloud passed over them.
After minutes, maybe hours, of T-Pose chaos, Mario was relieved that everyone was okay, not so he could mess with them, but so he could party and play with them again. As Peach's chopper soon came in to land on the roof and everyone moved aside, Mario couldn't help but feel that, for once in his life, he was grateful for Peach...
From afar, a lanky pink-nosed man with a crooked mustache in purple and black overalls observed the scene at the castle with binoculars. He stood near a tree on top of a green hill overlooking the lush countryside of the Mushroom Kingdom.
He lowered his binoculars, scowling with fury.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to upgrade the Mushroom's effects..." Waluigi said, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple mushroom with a T symbol on it, "...and we'll make sure that nobody can be cured by that stupid green mushroom again when this lovely land sees the next T-Posing craze. We have lots of work cut out for us, don't we?"
The lanky Wario Brother put away the mushroom and walked away, then he turned back and gazed out at Peach's Castle again as his eyes glowed blue with power.
"Until next time, Mario and friends, mark my words..." Waluigi sneered.
He walked off, laughing maniacally, even as nobody else heard him. But soon, very soon, the world would know the pain and what it would be like to feel... neglected.