Part 16
Joseph: Recall if my memory serves right but this is the path to the Temple of Time.
Luigi: Wait; temple of…time?
Joseph: It was built not long ago to hold the triforce in a new location. Bad things have happened before in its previous location, which is why it was moved to this sacred grove area.
Lucia: And by the way, I can’t believe that you got your asses kicked so hard back there! If you plan to take on three at once, you guys need to use teamwork! Not individually charging at those guys. In a three on one, the lone solider will almost always lose.
Link: Will you all stop with your mindless bickering and trivial lectures? All of you got pounded into the ground! None of you used teamwork. There is no time to waste, time is running out, and without time, we will have no purpose.
The Heroes’ time was short, thus their urgency to race to the temple surpassed even the grand escape from the doom-ship and encounter with Giga-Bowser. They ran through what was a forest that was thinning up, but familiar. The trail lead eventually into a temple that resembled appearance to the temple at the light world’s sacred grove, but it was not halfway destroyed. Instead, it was vibrantly made and well constructed out of marble, diamond, painted bricks, and even sticks and clay. It was very obvious based on how the varying architecture of the many times, that this was that temple holding the Triforce. Something was out of place however.
Luigi: But why would the triforce be in a place like this? It doesn’t make any sense for it to be in a place about time.
Lucia: Questioning the mysterious is not why we are here. We need to get into there and destroy those villains immediately. I don’t know what they plan to do with those stars but Joe and I will fail our mission and duty without them.
Mike: Something is not right about this. I don’t know why but something about the temple’s exterior doesn’t fit….yes! Look! That mirror is broken!
Link: I hadn’t noticed! That mirror up there is a replica of a famous mirror on the inside of the temple. It is said to represent time. But the mirror on the wall is….broken!
Mario: What? What does that mean?
Luigi: It means seven years of bad luck, which is not good. Me and Mike will be going now
Lucia: Hold it! I object you leaving you cowards! And it is “Mike and I,” learn some grammar!
[Cut to the entrance hallway of the temple.]
Inside the temple, an intricate and narrow entrance hallway is revealed. The walls are made of marble, and the floor is so shiny and polished that the group’s reflections can be seen as clear as a mirror against the black limestone.
Luigi: I’ve never seen such a remarkable room! The columns, those arches on the side, the classic architecture! I love it all.
Mario {looking ahead into the hallway}: Hey, is there supposed to be piles of dust sitting around here?
Link: Oh great… {Runs over to the piles of dust, as he looks around, he sees that there are smashed statue guards everywhere} those fiends took out all of the iron guards!
Mario: What guards are you talking about? All I see is smashed statues
Link: These “statues” guard the entrance to the temple of time you see. Magic allows them to move and move swiftly. Normally they look elegant and resemble soldiers and knights, and they are all very strong guards. But for those villains to take them all out and crumble iron and granite into scraps and stones is astonishing. They must be getting more powerful with the extra star power.
Lucia: Well you had better hang onto that star for dear life when we encounter them. If you let it near them, who knows what will happen?
When they reached the end of the hall, even more devastation was seen in the next room. The main room to the temple of time had grandiose and similar architecture to the entrance hallway. It was enormous, at least 5000 square feet, resembling a large cathedral. Yet much of the more spectacular decorations were ruined and crumbled. A large security puzzle was in the center of the room. It was designed to bring a spiral stairway up. Though it was very obvious the villains cheated the puzzle out based on how some key mechanisms and stairway were damaged.
Lucia: Those fatherless *******s! How the freak do you solve a complex puzzle like this and then take out the mechanisms!?
Joseph: Lucia! Calm down and stop swearing!
Lucia: How can I stop swearing! The fact that they completely cheated the security puzzle is just astonishing. I’ll….I’ll get them for this. {insert anime-like close-up here}
Mario: Wait-a moment-a. There is no need for over the top anime like clichés. Though I’m worried! What will it become of later on?
Link: Ha ha, no need to worry. For none of you have clearly been stuck in a puzzle’s dungeon for hours.
(Mario Bros thinking to themselves: Oh we have, and we hate it when that happens)
Mike: Then just how complex are the security puzzles at the top floor where the triforce is?
[Cut to the villains perspectives at the top floor]
The villains were at the last room in the entire temple….well almost. The last hallway leading to the triforce was blocked off by a very complex puzzle. The door was locked by a weird magical red and orange force field which was circular shape moving in and out constantly. Unfortunately for them, the way of deactivating was very unclear. In the corners of the room, there lied three angelic statues that looked very familiar.
Bowser: AARRRRRHHGGG!!!! This SUUUUCKS! {Stomps his feet in frustration}
Kamek: Lord Bowser! Keep your blood pressure down! For the entire time since you were revived you have seemed like a completely new person, don’t go back to your old self now!
Bowser: Why! We’ve tried everything on this force field! We have tried bashing it, bewitching it, burning it. I even threw one of those statues at it too! BAH!!!
Kamjikuru: You unsophisticated brat! You are an insult to the dynasty I intend to found. Now think logically about the puzzle, where have we seen statues like that before?
Bowser: wait! WAIT! YES! That is right; these statues were on the very first floor in the very same position! But what would that have to do with anything?
Kamek: You haven’t caught on? Many of the puzzles involved all 3 of us pushing several statues simultaneously. We found an item that allowed us to make temporary clones of us for about a minute at any point in the dungeon. If we use the device simultaneously on the statues at the bottom of the temple, then we just might unlock the force field.
Bowser:……..I don’t know how you Japanese manage to figure out crazy puzzles like this (let alone think of them up) but it sounds crazy enough to work. Give me that red cloning rod!
Kamek: It’s maroon with a red crystal on it you idiot!
[Cut back to the heroes’ perspective]
Joseph: On the positive side, since all those security puzzles are likely to have been demolished, we can just run to the top within a few minutes and stop them before they get to the final chamber. Come on! No time to lose!
However just as Joseph said these words of encouragement, the clones of the villains spawned in the hallway’s center where the statues laid. These clones had entered the room in particle form and solidified from bubbles to real bodies.
Link: No! They discovered the secret to opening the final rooms to the triforce chamber!
Mario: What just-a happened?
Luigi: I’m so confused! How could they appear out of thin air!
Link: No time to explain! Just eliminate those clones before they push those statues forward! {Runs up and cuts the clones to pieces. The other party members follow right when the switches are about to be pulled}
[Cut to the villains’ perspective]
Bowser: Huh? What happened to our clones? They should have lasted more than 30 seconds!
Kamjikuru: [darn]! That medaling brat Link and those others have entered the temple! We will never get our clones down there to flip the switch at this rate. This time, we’ll show those losers what we are made of.
Kamek: Yeah! Let’s kill those Mario Bros and those other brats once and for all!
[Cut back to the heroes’ perspective]
Luigi: D-do you hear loud footsteps coming from the stairs?
Link: They’re here…
Bowser {from the spiral stairway}: So you made it this far after taking such a beating? I’m impressed; but now your journey ends here!
Kamek: For now your departure is near!
Kamjikuru: You are no match for us three; all of you will die in fear! Descendants, use the restraining spell!
Kamek: But we were going to use that to hold them back in case they reached the triforce before us!
Kamjikuru: Do as I say! Without it they will only get in our way!
The villains charged their powers once more, a beam of bright blue lightning shot from their arms and surged through the heroes’ bodies. It would cause them to stay immobile for 5 minutes, plenty of time for the villains to solve the locking puzzle and get away.
Kamek: No let’s get rid of these pests once and for all!
Kamjikuru: Hold on there for a moment. These stars….they are acting up, look! {The stars are jumping around and shaking}. Getting near that final star will cause something bad to happen, I’m sure of it.
Bowser: No! Not this again! Just forget about these guys and run up the stairs before the force field locks itself again!
And so the villains escaped; and they were running up the floors to the triforce as fast as they could to get to the open force field in time.
Lucia: No! They got away! They got away!!!
Link: Hold your horses, that big guy is very slow. We might still have time to reach them. Everybody! Run and pursuit! {all the heroes run as fast as they can up their 4 story temple to reach the villains before they themselves reach the triforce}
[Cut to the villains perspective at the top floor]
Kamek: Ah, no more force field. Beyond that door lies the room containing the triforce. Soon it will be ours and so will the world…
Heroes: Hold it right there!
Bowser: Gah! You guys again! Don’t you ever give up?!
Kamek: I told you wasting that spell was a bad idea! They just stand a chance to beat us now thanks to you!
Mike: The killers of my brother will at last be avenged!
Mario: I can not allow you to go any further Bowser.
Link, Lucia, Joseph: Kamjikuru! You will never have this land!
Luigi: I’m not that little kid Kamek you kidnapped, I’ll show you what I am made of now!
Kamjikuru: Uhhgg! This is no time to fight imbeciles! To the triforce right now! {Enters door and is followed fast by the others}
Link: Pursue them!
The heroes ran after them, but just as they entered the door to the entrance hallway to the triforce chamber, the force field sprung back into place. It was no turning back; the only option was victory or defeat for one of the two parties…
Within the Triforce chamber laid a small stairway leading up onto a stage/platform. In the center of the platform was a chest that clearly contained the triforce. Behind the stage was a large mirror that filled the entire wall. An odd illumination filled the room as everything was illuminated in this light blue glow. Fountains were abundant within the rooms; so much that the floor was wet.
Kamjikuru: Oof! I’ve been trying to get a hold of this triforce for practically my whole life!
Link: Stop them!
And so began the final battle; the climax of climaxes. Initially, both groups were lined up opposing each other. The heroes stood at the entrance and the villains at the edge of the stairway. Link and Kamjikuru both reminded their groups quickly on “teamwork” the groups clashed.
Mario and Luigi used a Bros Spin Attack on Bowser, but Bowser counter-attacked with a claw swipe. Mike shell-rolled Kamek and was successful, then Kamek attacked Mike with a poison spell; Mike’s energy is decreased down slowly! Lucia and Joe went after Kamjikuru using a joint-effort; they used a special move involving a combo of Joe’s powers (lighting) and Lucia’s sword. Kamjikuru got hit hard and took heavy damage, but managed to copy-cat the attack and use it right back at them. The battle turned into a complete stalemate despite the team’s efforts. Then Bowser had in his rare occasions gotten a deviously fantastic idea.
Bowser {murmuring}: you know that *Mumbles* well what if we *muttering.* We just might have enough power left to pull it off onto just one member of our enemies. I think we really should do that.
Kamek: That’s just so crazy its genius! Why didn’t you ever think of that before? This could have saved so many troubles! Come on everyone, combine your powers!
The villains charged up blackness from their wands (claws for Bowser) and unleashed it towards a specific member of the other group. This spell appeared as an ellipse on the ground, and ran right up to Mario’s feet and ran the spell into him. Mario had received the dreaded “curse.”
Mario {with crimson red eyes and an altered voice} Hail Bowser! {Approaches Luigi Violently}
Luigi: No! NO MARIO! NO! {Dodges a super punch}
Lucia: I’ll get him off {Attempts to swipe at Mario but misses and Mario counter-attacks}
Mike: Stop Mario! Are you going to let that curse take over you once and for all after all this?! {Mario Jumps on Mike and kicks him across the room}
Joe {thinking to himself}: I…I can’t believe this is happening you need to think positive Joe, something will happen! Something must! But should I attack my own teammate or not?! Oh….such a tough decision! What to do! What to do! {Mario attacks Joseph while he is thinking about what happened and is brought down for the count}
Link: You fool! Do you wish to die? I’ll kill you and your whole family Mario! {Mario’s response is completely bland, and just takes out Link as well.}
{Thinking to himself} Drat! Doesn’t anything at all scare this guy? {Mario unwittingly takes the last star from Link}
Kamjikuru: Use the stars now! Hurry while they are down and distracted! {After this, Bowser and Kamek take the stars that they stole, and throw them up into the air over the triforce chest. It unlocks the container and brings the triforce up}
Eventually when the triforce rose up and about, the villains used the power of the stars with their relationship to the triforce to erase it’s coding for a previous owner. Beams of lighting zapped the triforce and then it glowed white for a moment. Then they approached…
Kamjikuru: The world is mine!
Kamek and Bowser: Ours baka!
Kamjikuru: No need to star that again, JUST TOUCH IT ALREADY AND GET THIS OVER WITH!
Bowser: Hmmmm, looks like Mario did the bidding of….why not let our new “slave” do
Suddenly though, mysteriously right when the cursed Mario was about to touch it and wish, the triforce sank back into the chest and then moved behind the giant mirror. Then the seven stars appeared once again.
Kamjikuru: What the hell?......
Mysterious voice from behind the mirror: you will never get this triforce!
Kamjikuru: Who is there! Speak up!
The seven stares rose up high and above into the air. Though this time, there was no large explosion or death to the villains. Instead, they first beamed energy down onto Mario that cured him of the curse. Then they crossed paths through the mirror. Just as they crossed through the mirror, the reflections of the stars of both the ones of past and present came out from the other side.
Then they all started circling through the mirror as if there was no barrier there. Afterwards, the Mirror completely shattered and burning white light filled the room. The other heroes then woke up just in time to see the marvelous site. At the other side of the room stood Mario, Luigi, Mike, and in no reflection but in flesh! Aside from them were other heroes including a nerdy short man with swirly glasses named twisty, Blumeire in his true form, and a similar looking but different hero from Link. Villains were also there including Bowser and Kamek, who ironically looked goofy and possessed themselves. The main villain standing at the other edge of the room a black cloaked Dimentio.
Mario 2: I think-a these-a other guys are literally confused and dumbstruck by what-a happened!
Twisty: Oh and I’m sure the other side of the fourth wall is confused as well!
1st group of heroes:………………………………………………………………
Dimentio: Oh I see those idiots who will get in my way of killing off the universe have no idea what is going on! They’ve obviously never heard of the split timeline of this land!
1st group of heroes:………………………………………………………………
[2nd group of heroes runs up the 1st]
Blumeire: There is no time to explain! Just think of us as alternate versions of you all from another dimension and for now we will leave it at that.
Twisty: And don’t even think of asking about how we got here! Save it for after this final battle.
And so the [really] final battle emerged. The 1st group of heroes had no choice but to comply and go along with everything. Dimentio then ironically put a control curse on the 1st group of villains to go along with his two brain-dead zombies so they wouldn’t question him.
Dimentio: At last! I will have my revenge on all of you!
Bowser 1 and 2: Hail Dimentio! {attacks Mario 1 and 2}
Mario 1 and 2: Hiya! {They simultaneously flip in the air and pound the two Bowsers together to knock him out}
Kamek 1: I have no idea what is going on but I’ll do Dimentio’s biding!
Kamek 2: Oh my alternate form, you’ll never guess what is going on! {Both Kamek’s charge their wands while floating into the air and charge it at the duplicate sets of Mike and Luigi. The attack sends a blue beam of hyper energy containing many random spells toward them}
{All four jump up in the air and dodge the hyper attack, then all four land on Kamek and result in a devastating blow to the head to him}
Dimentio {to Joe and Twisty}: Oh you fools cannot defeat me! For I am the great Dimentio! {Summons a dimension styled attack like in Super Paper Mario}
Twisty: I hope you realize how flawed your attack is {pulls out a device that create a shield from the attack}.
Dimentio: No! How could that cheap contraption actually work!
Twisty: I sense a high volume of electricity within you Joseph. Unleash it at the same as I unleash this high powered Flash Liquidizer Dousing Device! {Twisty pulls out a Super FLUDD and Mike heavily shocks Dimentio at the same time. Combined with the water, Dimentio is zapped into oblivion practically}
Kamjikuru: No! I’m the only one left! Don’t! Don’t kill me!
Lucia: Your fear has broken that temporary possession of you.
Link: Now you get to feel the full pain we inflict on you before we seal you away forever where you belong! {Soon they stab him brutally, then kick his face in, and finally seal him away into a state similar to Ganondorf for all eternity where he would rot until his spirit would even die. Kamjikuru had never screamed in more agony then ever before.}
After defeating the six men of evil, the 1st group reformed to take a better look at themselves from the other side of time. The group from the “darker side” of the Mushroom Kingdom was very confused, while the group from the “light hearted side” of the Mushroom Kingdom was just glad that their own problems were over.
Part 17 (This time, the ending is for real)
Mario 2: Heh hey! It’s-a done! After all-a that! We’re-a finished!
Luigi 2: Yahoo!
Mario: Hey! I demand an explanation! Understanding the triforce and getting sent back in time was bad enough! And now ourselves and other people we have never scene have appeared?
Blumeire: Hmph…obviously yourselves from the other side of time do not know of the split timeline. Twisty, would you mind explaining?
The nerdy character called Twisty explained the odd situation. Many years ago, a split in the timeline occurred. For centuries in the hidden Temple of the Triforce, there was a mirror that linked the time periods together. When the villains from both periods touched the Triforce simultaneously in a Time period they were not even supposed to be present it, a chain reaction had occurred and sent all beings in the room into one solid room of time, separated from all else…that is until now. The stars meeting each other at the same point in time in the two timelines had caused a chain-reaction, destroying the odd split and bringing time together within this room.
Afterwards, the Triforce rose back up and its essence spoke
Essence of the Triforce: Welcome heroes, I am the Essence of the Triforce. The Triforce will grant the in the heart of the one who touches it. If a good hearted person wishes, then his good wishes come true. If an evil hearted person wishes, his evil hearted wishes will come true. The stronger the wish, the triforce’s expression of that wish will be. The seven stars of power had part of the Triforce’s power channeled into them, and for security reasons were used to lock the entrance to the sacred realm. For years this holy ground has been undisturbed until today. Your villains that you sought to destroy must be spared. As without them, the erasement of existence for many shall occur. For years Time has been split in half as well, until today. The evil ones who seeked me have been stopped, and my previous owner has me no more. The Triforce awaits its new owner….
The groups talked and couldn’t decide who would be the one to touch it. As an experiment, they all agreed on the same wishes; to reunite the two timelines into one, to thwart all evil from the Mushroom Kingdom, and to complete the strange peace immediately. And so it happened. Everyone touched it simultaneously, and it was the strongest wish the Triforce had ever received…
The Mario Bros, Mike, Blumeire, and Twisty were all sent to their regular times, while the others were transported into their own time in the past. They shot upon the Mushroom Kingdom central square, where a crowd of people had been awaiting their return from the Doom-ship, as the memory of it hadn’t been erased with the wish. Upon arrival, the Mario Bros merged into their alternate selves, and Mike found someone sitting by the fountain, someone who he thought he would never see again.
Mike: KEN!
Ken: MIKE!
The brothers ran up to each other so fast they crashed into each other.
Ken: You still got the bowling sport within you….but why? Why am I alive? I just randomly woke up by the fountain alive…
Mike: I knew it! I touched the Triforce first! And deep inside me, the number one wish I was thinking among the others was your revival.
Mario: Hmmph, it seems I went through quite a lot. Now that time is back to normal, I can remember other adventures that were absolutely fantastic that I had no idea I even participated in.
Luigi: Hmmm…I remember there being two other men killed back when I first was possessed? What happened to them?
George/Hamm: Mario!!!!!!!
James: Well look who woke up? Why aren’t we dead?
Mario: Mike, did you?
Mike: Yep, I wished for the tragedy to end completely and for all conflicts to be resolved as well. It seems these guys woke up as well.
And so the greatest and strangest adventure the Mario Bros had ever encountered came to an end. For there was no more war in the Mushroom Kingdom, time was restored to the way it used to be 1000s of years ago, prejudice against races disappeared. Scholars agreed to what the past was and that the gods were somehow, somewhere, stars themselves. The police were out of a job at first due to the peace, but soon found better and less dangerous jobs. All those who were enslaved and died in the previous Koopa Occupation were revived as well. The Mushroom Kingdom and Koopa Kingdom merged together to create one absolute Kingdom…..
…..And the seven stars were never stolen again. Everything was restored at last. For all eternity, the stars were at peace, as was the gateway to a realm that would never be corrupted again.
Author’s note: I’m worried though that people are going to be confused by the ending. I guess I found a way to keep Menace going after all. To explain the odd plot twist at the end involving the split timeline better, I intend to write a separate fan-fic about these parallel events to Menace in the other timeline. It will answer your questions such as “Why did these random characters show up?” and stuff like that. Look forward to it sometime between the end of the year or sometime early next year.
