Chapter 24 Final Battle
Walking through Bowser's Castle this time around, Mario couldn't help but sweat. He kept extra close to Peach and Luigi, hoping that their presence would distract from the terror building in his heart and mind. At one point, he whimpered, and Luigi took hold of his hand in response. As someone who usually was on the other end of such a transaction normally Mario couldn't help but smile. He looked into his brother's eyes, which shined with determination and support. He looked over at Peach, who also looked determined. Maybe… maybe if they weren't worried, then Mario himself could find the strength to not worry.
The trio didn't say a word as they walked down the all-too-familiar hallways, but that was okay. Mario thought about Bowser, wondering how he would react to seeing him like this. His stomach churned, not so much with nerves, but with anger instead. The more time he spent thinking about the Koopa King's stupid, smug face, the more his anger grew.
By the time they got to the throne room, Mario's anger was at an all-time high. Mario looked forward, holding back a grunt when he saw Bowser sitting on the throne. When Bowser spotted the trio, he blinked. He blinked once, he blinked twice. His jaw also dropped a little.
"Wow," he said loud enough for the trio to hear even from so far away. "I've gotta say, I was NOT expecting to see you guys today. Least of all together."
Holding back the urge to scream, Mario approached the throne. The longer Bowser kept his eyes on Mario, the more amused he seemed to become. He even laughed when Mario was close to the throne. "Wow, Mario! I've gotta say, you are looking mighty handsome today!" He snickered. "I mean, you aren't as handsome as me, but then again, no one is." He laughed heartily, sounding as though he had greatly amused himself with that quip.
Mario didn't let himself get fazed by this though. "Listen. Bowser." Peach and Luigi walked up and stood right beside him. "I am not interested in any bull crap. You know why I came here, and I'm not leaving until I get what I want."
Bowser blinked. "You want your human form back? Oh, come on! You look so much better as a koopa! Heck, you probably make a very noble koopa too. Personally, I wouldn't mind if you and I stayed part of the same species."
Mario wanted to scream and pull his hair out. "Well, I'm not interested in that, thank you very much." He looked Bowser right in his fiery, ruby-red eyes. "I want to be human again! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Either way, Peach, Luigi, and I are going to come out on top."
Bowser chuckled. "Oh, I don't know about that." He took a deep breath. It didn't take long for anyone to know what his next course of action would be.
"LUIGI, PEACH, MOVE!"
The trio jumped to opposite sides of the grand throne room right as Bowser shot a stream of fire breath at them. The sweating Mario had experienced beforehand was getting worse, especially when he saw Luigi and Peach. For the first time since they arrived at the castle, Luigi looked incredibly scared. Mario didn't blame him in the slightest. It didn't help that Peach looked pretty apprehensive too.
"Luigi! Peach!" He got up, trying to go over to the two of them when… BOOM! Bowser jumped down and punched him in the face, sending him flying across the room. Mario screamed, and he felt such insurmountable pain when his shell made contact with the wall.
"MARIO!" Peach and Luigi screamed in unison.
Bowser just laughed. "Face it, Mario! You can't win this one!"
Mario grunted. Despite his pain, and the overwhelming desire to collapse to the floor, Mario stood up. His legs shook, he was in so much pain that it felt like he was going to die. But nevertheless, he charged at Bowser. He charged as fast as his Koopa body would allow him, which (while slower than his human body) was still an impressive speed. Especially for someone experiencing as much pain as he currently was. He readied his fist, about to give Bowser a punch back when…
WHAP! Bowser hit him again. And this time, when Mario made contact with the wall, it wasn't his shell that took the direct impact. Instead, it was his head. The pain there was somehow so much worse than it was in the shell, so much more devastating. The room grew fuzzy. Like before, he felt like he was going to pass out. He kind of wanted that, as that would mean the pain would end, at least temporarily.
"YOU MONSTER!" Luigi exclaimed. Despite the room growing fuzzy, Mario was able to see Luigi pulling two fire flowers out of his pocket. He tossed one to Peach, and when they activated, they spammed them at Bowser. The Koopa King used his arms as a shield, but that meant very little in the grand scheme of things. The scent of burning flesh filled the already horrendous-smelling air. It was a miracle Bowser didn't scream.
But… maybe the greatest miracle that actually was observable in this scene was Luigi and Peach themselves. They fought with such determination, all because they cared about Mario. They wanted what was best for him, and they were going to stop at nothing until he had that. It was kind of like the Goldleafs. They had gone the extra mile to ensure that Mario would be okay in the trial he faced. Like Peach and Luigi, they were willing to put themselves on the line just to ensure Mario could be happy in the end. And that… that…
Sniffling, Mario wore a smile as a tear fell from his eye. He finally found the strength to stand up, finally found the determination he needed to rejoin the fight. And this time, he knew exactly which strategy he was going to use too. He got into his shell and zipped forward. The speed at which he moved, while swift, was far from uncontrollable. Mario was able to glide across the room, not caring about any external forces that had the potential to slow him down. He kept his eyes forward. Bowser was getting so close now. He just needed to…
THWACK! Mario jumped forward and whammed Bowser in the face. He let out a roar, putting his hand to the point of impact. Mario exited his shell and slid across the floor. With very little thinking on his part, he got into his shell again and hit Bowser on a different part of the body. The roar of pain that the Koopa King let out this time was incredible. He sounded like he was dying. If he wasn't Mario's archenemy, the plumber would probably feel bad for him.
"Mario!" Luigi said in awe. "That was incredible!"
Mario beamed. "Thanks." He felt a warm feeling in his heart. He wondered if Opal would be proud of him for being able to pull off that attack as well as he did.
"Pfft. Incredible, Shimcredible." Mario raised an eyebrow at Bowser, who stared at him with heat in his eyes. "You think that's impressive? Any Koopa can go into their shell; even a newborn! Don't believe me!"
With that, Bowser went in to his shell. Mario shrieked, jumping out of the way as Bowser's enormous self came barreling towards him. Thankful to jump out of the way in time, Mario looked over his shoulder to see what his opponent was going to do next. He fully expected Bowser's cumbersome size would mean he would crash into the wall, but… no. Bowser turned around with ease, more ease than Mario could say he had. Unfortunately, this turn-around meant that Mario didn't have a lot of time to stand and marvel at Bowser's finesse. He needed to get out of the way. NOW!
"AHH!" Mario leaped out of the way of Bowser's shell again, and Luigi and Peach did the same thing. That was when what was essentially a game of chase began. Bowser chased down the trio, mainly keeping his sights on Mario. The hero ran with all his might. He felt like he was running out of breath, but honestly, he had experienced that feeling in Bowser battles before. He was used to it and therefore knew how to overcome it. He barreled through the throne room, praying that Bowser would eventually get tired. He never did.
But thankfully, Mario got an idea. He made sure to run super fast at one wall, shooting towards it at top speed. Behind him, Bowser's speed built up more and more until Mario jumped out of the way at the last second. Without any time to react, Bowser rammed himself into the wall. Standing back and catching his breath, Mario looked at him. He gritted his teeth as he held his hand to his spinning head.
"Oh… MAN that was brutal!" He locked eyes on Mario once again. He blinked a couple of times before gritting his teeth again. With smoke shooting out of his nostrils, he let out one of the roars that he was so infamous for. Mario put his hands to his ears, cringing at how loud the sound was. Fortunately for him, this didn't distract him enough to completely blind-sided him to Bowser's next attack. When Bowser shot another stream of fire breath in his direction, he jumped out of the way of that. As Bowser redirected his fire, he managed to do backflips and jumps over that too. While not as graceful as it would've been if he was still a human, he was still extremely proud of himself for these acrobatics.
"Why you little… STAND STILL!" Bowser charged toward Mario with his fist out, but Mario dodged. He then got the idea to try and hit Bowser with his shell again, as that seemed to do a decent amount of damage last time. He got into his shell, building up speed by going around in a circle. He zipped towards Bowser, jumping so that he had a chance of hitting him in the head again when…
"AAH!" Bowser caught Mario in midair. With a deep frown, Bowser squeezed on Mario's shell. Mario gasped as he exited the shell, all of a sudden having the hardest time breathing. As he gasped for air, Luigi and Peach let out gasps of their own.
"Mario!" Luigi and Peach shot fireballs at Bowser, but miraculously against all odds, Bowser hit the fireballs and made them go shooting right back toward their shooters. Peach and Luigi screamed as they got hit and the power-up deactivation noise rang through the room.
"Ha! Pathetic." Bowser turned his attention back to Mario. "Now. To deal with you." He squeezed even harder, which at this point was the last thing Mario needed. He gasped, the air leaving him like a deflating balloon. Not only that, but it felt as though Bowser could, would, and was trying to break his spine. It was… while Mario had been in pain at other points during this fight, this time was worse and more painful than any of the previous times.
"B… Bowser…" he gasped, hoping to appeal to any mercy Bowser might have in his thick-skulled head. Bowser didn't listen though. He just squeezed harder and harder, making more air leave Mario's lungs. He could barely even think at this point. The edges of the room were growing dark. This… this might be the end. He was going to die as a koopa without ever getting a chance to return to his human form. He supposed he should feel sad about this, but was too focused on the pain to care. Right as he was about to pass out…
"GAAH!"
Something hit Bowser in the shell, making him drop Mario. Jumping out of the way just in the nick of time to avoid being crushed by Bowser's gigantic body, Mario gasped and tried to regain his breath. It took a while, but eventually he did.
"Oh, Mama Mia." He stood up, looking over at Peach and Luigi. "Nice hit guys!"
"Uh, that wasn't us." Luigi pointed forward. Confused, Mario looked in the direction Luigi pointed, and when he saw who Luigi was pointing at, he gasped.
"No way!"
AN: Don't go away! There's one chapter after this, so stay tuned!
