//------------------------------// // 11: Shadow Captain Celaeno // Story: Paper Mario: Elements & Stars // by ThePegaKris //------------------------------// ”Everypony, fly for your lives!” A random bystander cried out. ”AHHHH!!!” ”Quickly, we have to get onboard that ship!” Mario commanded. ”I-I’m coming!” Fluttershy briefly paused before flying. Not only was the rain getting heavier, but the wind blew much fiercer than before. Mario’s team had a bit of a struggle trying to fly to the pirate airship, so they made it onboard with a slippery landing until they reached the deck. ”Captain Celaeno!” Rainbow yelled. “We’ve come to set you free!” ”How dare you set foot on our ship? Let us swashbucklers sail in peace or we will make you suffer the consequences!” ”Yup, King Sombra is up to his mind games again.” as Cappy rolled his eyes. ”Throw them overboard!” One of the possessed crew members squawked. ”Whatever King Sombra’s doing inside your head, it’s not going to help him get the Ring of Destiny!” Mario exclaimed. ”Daring Do, Fluttershy, and I got the crew members, Mario!” Rainbow insisted. “You, Luigi, and Cappy deal with Captain Celaeno!” ”Aargh, it’s about we make you walk the plank, ponies!” Another pirate squawked. ”Just like old times, bro.” Mario reminisced. ”These parrot pirates move like ordinary humans.” Luigi mentioned. ”So does the captain.” Cappy said. The dark aura rages within Captain Celaeno, and she took her hands off the wheel in order to face off with the Mushroom Kingdom’s heroes. She drew out a sword and smiled sinisterly some more. ”Just because you plumbers have outnumbered me doesn’t mean this’ll be any easier for you! Watch closely!” ”What is she doing?” Mario raised an eyebrow. ”The parrot captain raised her sword into the air and a lightning bolt struck it with an intense magnitude of electricity. Her sword was now sparking and she began to sprint at Mario. ”Take this!” ”It’s too bad your leg is missing, which means you can’t fly like us!” as Mario soared to the top of the ship. ”How do you like us now, Captain Celaeno?” Luigi tattled. ”I may not be able to reach you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still attack you! I will strike you down like dead meat! Kiyaaa!” Captain Celaeno waved her sword at the trio, which led to lightning bolts shooting out of her sword that are constantly being aimed at the trio. They kept flying to dodge her attacks, and one of the bolts ended up leaving a hole in the airship. ”I thought only unicorns and Alicorns can use magic to enhance their attacks.” Mario said. ”Yeah, but once somepony gets possessed by Sombra, he or she gets pumped up!” as Rainbow backed up into Mario. ”Stop talking and fight for once!” The captain resented. ”You want to play it like that, huh?” Mario dared. “It’s a good thing I snuck outta bed this morning to get those Lightning Flowers from Zecora!” ”With these new flowers of shock, you shall unleash attacks that one cannot block...” ”Luigi, here’s one for you!” ”Thanks bro!” Both Mario Bros. grabbed their Lightning Flowers and crushed it in their gloves. While their Wing Caps were still intact, the colors of their overalls turned completely different. Mario wore black and yellow while Luigi wore greenish-yellow. ”Now let’s put these powers to the test!” Mario exclaimed. “I’m now glad it’s the perfect day for a storm!” ”Your feeble toys are still no match for me!” Shadow Captain Celaeno declared. ”Your heads shall be under my blade!” ”Nope!” as Luigi shot a bolt of electricity. ”Bzzzgh! A good hit, but you’ll still have to do better than that, mateys! Take this!” ”How about a ‘Thunder Hammer’ for added measure?” Mario conformed. Mario charged up his hammer with electricity and charged back at the captain, whose sword was still electrified. Both held it off fiercely while Mario’s pony friends held their ground against the other pirates. ”You will succumb to the darkness!” Captain Celaeno cried. ”King Sombra is not your master!” Mario exclaimed. “I’m here to break you free from his control!” ”GAH!!!” as the captain got her sword swiped away by Mario. ”You stay right there, Captain Celaeno!” as Mario immobilized her with lightning. ”Nnnoooo, aaargghh!!!!!!!” ”Luigi, Cappy, over here!” Mario called out. “It’s time to finish her off once and for all!” ”What do we do now?” Cappy asked. ”There was a combo attack that Twilight taught me.” Mario replied. “I think it was called ‘Flying Hammer Chain.’” ”Ooh, ooh, I know what to do!” Mario exclaimed. “Twilight, for this attack, I shall call it ‘Flying Hammer Chain.’ Basically, I am going to throw my hammer at an enemy one time, then I throw Cappy to my hammer so that I can possess it and hit the enemy in midair the second time, and finally, you fly in to catch my hammer so that you can swing at the enemy yourself. The faster you fly in and catch me, the harder your swing will hit!” ”I guess I’m filling in for Twilight, right bro?” Luigi interrogated. ”Yeah, get ready too, Cappy!” Mario added. ”Ready on you, Mario!” ”3... 2... 1... Now!” The attack sequence began as Mario threw his hammer at the paralyzed captain with a widespread throw. Then, he threw Cappy onto his hammer and came swinging down on Celaeno again. Finally, Luigi flew in fast to grab Mario and took the last swing against the already weak parrot. ”What’s...happening... to my body?” as Captain Celaeno’s voice pitch was restored. You will regret this again, Mario... as another shadow pony left the captain’s body. ”Captain, is everything okay?” A crew member demanded. ”T-The ship!” She stuttered. “The storm’s too strong, we’re going down!” ”Follow me!” Mario yelled. ”Who are you?” Celaeno minded. ”Not now, we’re going to jump!” ”HUPPP!!!” as everyone jumped for safety. The pirates’ airship started to fall out of commission by the fierce lightning, but Mario’s team and Captain Celaeno’s crew were able to safely reach Daring Do’s house. The sail of King Sombra’s image was torn off and even though the ship was going down, the sail was restored to the crew’s normal pirate image. Nevertheless, everyone ran inside the house in order to catch their breath. ”Is everypony okay?” Rainbow Dash checked up. ”Aargh, why do I feel like I’ve been smacked on me head?” A male parrot groaned. ”Rainbow Dash & Fluttershy?” Captain Celaeno asked. “It’s nice to see you two, but...how did we end up in Cloudsdale?” ”I think Mario can explain that, Captain.” Fluttershy smiled. ”Mario? Why does that name sound familiar?” ”Yeah, that’s me. Everything’s all right, Captain. King Sombra no longer has control over you and your crew.” ”Wait, I remember that now...” The captain thought. “The last thing that scallywag told me before I got possessed was to lead my crew in order to stop Mario, which is you, and find the Ring of Destiny...” ”Looks like you weren’t kidding.” as Daring Do dried herself. “The Ring of Destiny shouldn’t be toyed around with.” ”It seems like we’re finally free!” Captain Celaeno gasped. “Mario, thank you so much for getting rid of the demons controlling us! I hope we didn’t deal any low blows to you and your friends.” ”Not a problem. I’m more concerned about whether or not I actually hurt you severely. Are you all right, though?” ”Yes, I’m fine, even though I’m still feeling a bit of volts running through me.” The captain replied. “That shadow probably took all the hits when it was still inside me, so I only felt half the pain.” ”That’s good to know.” Cappy admitted. ”Oh Mario, I almost forgot, hehe!” Captain Celaeno giggled. “I’d like you to meet the rest of my crew! This is Boyle, Lix Spittle, Mullet, and Squabble!” ”Ahoy there, mateys!” The crew greeted. ”So, how long have you guys been sailing?” Luigi inquired. ”SQWAK!” Squabble squawked. “We’ve been sailing the Sea of Clouds for so long that I’ve started to lose count!” ”No matter where we go, the treasure always ends up in our grasp.” Mullet foretold. ”We fire the cannons like there’s no tomorrow.” Boyle deliberated. ”And you can’t fight scallywags unless you’ve eaten some of my finest grub to toughen yourself up!” Lix Spittle chuckled. ”But most importantly, you always need to have a loyal captain that will look out for his or her crew...” Celaeno winked. ”Wow...” Mario hummed. “Speaking of your crew, we’re really sorry about your airship, Captain Celaeno.” ”Ah, that’s okay, Mario! This isn’t the first time our ship hasn’t been wrecked like this. I’m sure we can fix it up in no time.” ”SQWAK, what she said!” Squabble spit out. ”Lads, since you’ve been courageous enough to help us, I think it’s safe to assume that the treasure now belongs to you now.” Mullet said. ”Thank you!” Mario complimented. ”I’ll go get the Ring of Destiny from the attic, Mario.” Daring Do volunteered. “Feel free to grab a snack or something, but don’t touch my sandwich.” ”Dang it, so close!” Rainbow whispered. ”Thanks, Daring Do!” Mario also complimented. 8:45AM Unknown Location Thursday ”Looks like your new plan ended up in utter failure again, my love.” Shadow Peach firmed up. “A whole crew of pirates and yet they couldn’t defeat Mario and his friends?” Grrr... This is an embarrassment indeed, darling... This is just yet another minor setback for us... ”You think this is funny?” Shadow Peach groaned. “The more you keep saying that, the more frustrated I start to become! Can’t you at least step it up for real this time?” Relax, dear... I promise you that the third time will be the charm for sure... We just need to get ahold of that Tempest Shadow... ”Speaking of her, where could she be? You said it yourself that she’s incredibly fast, strong, and evasive, which makes me believe that it’ll be impossible to find her. Doesn’t that seem like karma in your thinking, my shadow husband?” I know what I’m doing... If all else fails, then it’ll finally be time for you to show them what you’re made of... ”I’m not called the ‘Shadow Queen’ for nothing.” Shadow Peach bragged. “At least, try and get your full power already so that we may team up on Mario and destroy him and those worthless ruffians he hangs around with!” When the time is right, my love... How are our guests doing, by the way? ”They’re being well-fed and rested, but not for long.” Shadow Peach replied. “I thought I’d make them comfortable before they’re about to face their imminent deaths.” Excellent... It seems that the Princess of Friendship went off with her own squad of allies as well... ”I still don’t care about any of them.” Shadow Peach huffed. “What’s going on with that pathetic excuse for a king, however?” Hmm, looks he and his squad left Princess Twilight’s castle slightly later than Mario’s squad... They went to Ponhenge to go find the Old Pillars of Equestria... Let me ssssee... ”The Princess of Friendship, Rarity, and Professor E. Gadd went off to Canterlot to go talk to Princess Celestia about the Memory Stone.” Shadow Peach said. “To be honest, I would be bored yet curious to see how they ended up doing.” Let me guessss... You wanted to storm the castle and just completely obliterate everything, right? ”And this is why I love you. You always know what I have in mind, unlike that stupid plumber! When I get my hands on him, I’m going to start doing all sorts of evil things to him! He won’t even know what hit him...” That’sss the ssspirit... Once the list is complete, we will be unstoppable, perfect life forms in all of Equestria... Nothing can stand in our way... Mwahahaha... ”I’ll admit that it’s pretty funny to know that you were once beaten before by a puny baby dragon in the past.” Shadow Peach let out. Like I said, the third time will be the charm, and no Crystal Heart is going to stop me this time...