Chapter 68: The Moon - Part 2
The airship transporting Mario and the others was rapidly flying above the desert obscured by the dark cloud, like the rest of the world.
Surprisingly, they didn't encounter any Canken in their travel from New Donk City to here.
"We're approaching," Wario warned with a finger in his nose. "Behind these mountains, we will see the valley, and the pyramid."
So the others stared with anticipation as the airship flew between the last mountains.
And they could see it, in the distance, the cliff surrounding the valley Wario told them about. And in this valley was the pyramid, giant, made of black stones, with a pentagonal base, and with triangles symbols with a single eye in the center on each of its sides.
And it was guarded by surprisingly few Cankens. Cankens that the heroes never encountered until now.
They were just... small one-eyed pyramids with two pairs of angelic wings.
And as soon as they saw the airship approaching, they fired lasers at it from their eyes. Far too many. Chunk by chunk, in just a few seconds, they destroyed the airship until it couldn't float anymore. Thankfully, Phantom used her powers to repair it before they could crash. Apple Bloom then took possession of the ship and quickly flew down toward the ground while Phantom went to eliminate the Cankens. The others could only panic and take cover to not be hit by the lasers.
As soon as the ship landed, everybody jumped out and ran toward the entrance of the pyramid while doing their best to avoid the lasers raining from above. Some of the Cankens approached so the heroes would have less time to dodge their lasers, but it also made it easier for Apple Bloom to target them as she used her powers to protect the group. Thankfully, Phantom was doing a good job of clearing the sky from them.
But then, a huge dark purple dragon dropped from beyond the clouds and blocked the entrance of the pyramid, roaring at their face.
"There're dragons in this world too?!" Apple Bloom shouted.
"Mama mia!" Mario shouted with a facepalm. "Of course they use him to defend the pyramid!"
DK placed himself at the front of the group and pounded his chest in defiance, not scared of a dragon. In the contrary, both Luigi and Waluigi ran away only for Yoshi to catch Luigi with his tongue before placing him on his back while Apple Bloom levitated Waluigi back to them while glaring at him.
Wario cracked his knuckles. "A dragon, uh? Give me five minutes."
The dragon took a big breath before he unleashed electricity from his mouth at the group. The group quickly scattered, and the heroes then did their best to avoid the large rings of electricity spreading from the impact point.
Apple Bloom flew above the dragon's head and blasted it to the ground where Wario punched it with enough force to make it recoil. Angrily, the dragon attempted to crush Wario with a claw, but the man in yellow was joined by DK and the two of them were able to hold it back while Apple Bloom blasted the head again. Mario began to climb the dragons' body from the claw still held by Wario and DK while Yoshi threw Luigi directly at the head which was then hit by the two plumbers' hammers from above and below. Finally, Wario and DK pushed the claw back so they could get away from under it while the dragon was stunned.
When he recovered, the dragon glared at the group as Phantom finally joined them, having eliminated all the Cankens in the sky. The dragon's scales were then covered in electricity before he raised a claw and smashed the ground with it, electricity spreading from the impact point in all directions despite the ground being made of sand, forcing the group to jump to avoid the patterns the electricity formed. Of course, since Apple Bloom and Phantom could fly, they didn't have to worry about this, but they still had to dodge the electricity breath as the dragon targeted them.
Only to get a Bob-Omb in the mouth, causing the dragon to glare at the responsible: a very scared Waluigi. Thankfully, he was saved from retaliation by Phantom using her illusion powers to hit the dragon with big laser cannons, followed by Apple Bloom blasting the head again only for her to be slapped by an electricity-covered claw.
The dragon then charged while enveloping himself in electricity again, forcing everyone to run out of the way while avoiding the electricity sent from his claws each time they touched the ground. He even attempted to eat Phantom as he passed beside her only for her to materialize a giant weight above his head. Again, the dragon found himself stunned as a result, and DK took the occasion to climb him. Once he reached the head, he smashed it repeatedly until he was forced to jump away as electricity enveloped it again. But then, Apple Bloom upped her game by manipulating the sand and even turning it into glass after shaping it into spiked balls before she bombarded the dragon with them.
When the onslaught ended, the injured dragon looked at the ghost filly only to spot Wario and Waluigi preparing something.
Waluigi had placed a Fire Flower just in front of Wario's butt, with his butt facing the dragon.
And Wario farted.
The gas was ignited by the flower, and the next thing the dragon knew, he was hit by a huge stream of fire. Since he was an electric dragon, he didn't have any resistance to it.
This was finally too much for the dragon who fell unconscious with dozens of Kennies leaving his body. Apple bloom and Phantom promptly eliminated them.
With the dragon out, the way to the pyramid was open, and the group didn't wait to enter.
Wario had informed them that the path to the center of the pyramid was a straight one with just a few traps and puzzles, but it quickly appeared that the Cankens redesigned the inside as almost just after entering, the path split to the left and the right, but not forward. Also, Apple Bloom verified, she couldn't pass through the strange black stones that composed the walls, so she couldn't cheat her way to the center. Phantom also attempted to use her Phantom powers to create a more direct path, but the walls wouldn't bulge. Whatever these black stones were, they were impermeable to anything they did to them. Of course, thanks to what Wario told them, they knew that they could blow up their way to the center of the pyramid, but then, they may risk causing the structure to crumble on them and on Peach if she was indeed kept in the center.
So they were left with no choice but to take a random direction among the two proposed path and enter what quickly revealed to be a labyrinth filled with traps and guarded by possessed beings from all over the world, from Toads to Koopas passing by humans, Piantas, the colored skeleton-like beings that inhabitant the nearby Sand Kingdom, and many, many others.
Heck, they even encountered possessed Tyrannosaurs!
And to all this, they had to add golems like the ones that Wario and Waluigi fought the first time they entered the pyramid, but more numerous.
It will take a long time before they reach the center of the pyramid...
In the Dark Side of the Moon, with a giggle and a smug smile, Sweetie Belle signed at Cankentriops to come at her.
And Cankentriops answered her call by materializing his scepter before dozens of giant chains of purple energy appeared out of thin air and went after the filly who flew to avoid them. The chains followed her, eventually surrounding her as they forged a giant hand that closed on her, only for her to blow it up into bits. She then charged at Cankentriops who intercepted her with a punch resulting in the two violently clashing before the punch was suddenly pushed back, allowing the filly to ram into Cankentriops' gut which sent him flying on his back.
To say that Cankentriops was shocked was an understatement. The filly not only managed to overpower him, but she also sent him flying despite her being the size of a bug to him.
With a roar, he got up and used Bowser's geokinesis to create absolutely huge boulders that he sent at Sweetie Belle only for her to easily destroy them with giant fists made of energy. Then, she punched him all over his bony with more of these giant fists before he teleported behind her. She avoided a swing of his scepter, then countered one of his punch with her own punch before she fired a beam from her horn at his eye. Cankentriops roared in pain but still attacked with another punch, and this time, it hit. The filly was sent crashing and ended up digging a trench for nearly a whole mile until reaching a cliff where she still dug a deep hole.
"Owww..." Sweetie Belle groaned as she regenerated her body from what remained after that. "Okay... Gotta be more careful..."
Cankentriops was laughing victoriously, thinking that Sweetie Belle was dead, so he had quite the surprise when she appeared behind him and smashed his head with such force that he almost felt his (Bowser's) eyes pop out of their sockets.
"How are you still alive?!" he yelled.
Sweetie Belle answered with a giggle. "For such a big guy, you are surprisingly fast. You really got me there," she said before she winked. "But I won't be so easily killed."
Cankentriops frowned in annoyance before he raised his scepter. A dark light appeared at the eye before he lightly tapped the bottom end on the ground. Then, tentacles of shadows spread, and eyes appeared in them and looked at Sweetie Belle before the shadows went to attack her.
Sweetie Belle countered shadows with shadows and even added in the eyes too. As the shadows clashed, the filly then summoned her ten cannons that she turned into double-sword mode before she dove to slice some of Cankentriops' shadows. But then, the eyes in the shadows fired lasers at her, so they weren't just disturbing decoration.
She countered by doing the same with the eyes in her shadows as she avoided them, and her lasers attacked the eyes in Cankentriops' shadows. But then, Cankentriops summoned more eyes like he did in New Donk City which fired lasers too.
"Too many eyes. Time to fix that."
Holes opened near the eyes, and the space in them solidified to turn into spikes that impaled and destroyed them. A move taken from Magolor's repertoire. Then, leaving the shadows clash (with hers winning), she teleported beside Cankentriops as he fired giant beams from the eye of his scepter and she hit him several times until the Canken teleported away. Sweetie Belle teleported after him, and the two clashed again and again as they repeatedly teleported all over the place. Shadows continued to fight, lasers flew in all directions, meteors were summoned, and Cankentriops even used Bowser's geokinesis to create and drop a small mountain on his adversary only for Sweetie Belle to teleport the mountain above him.
The mountain blew up the next instant, sending boulders in all directions, and Sweetie Belle materialized a giant baseball bat to send some of them back at Cankentriops. And just after she sent a last boulder to hit Cankentriops on the head, she charged after it, ramming the Canken between the eyes.
As Cankentriops was sent flying on his back as a result, again, he managed to catch Sweetie Belle before he rolled on his feet, jumped, put the filly under his belly, and crushed her as he dropped back on the ground, making the area shake as if it was the apocalypse.
And before he could get up, Sweetie Belle appeared above his shell and added her touch by surrounding herself in a giant spherical shield enveloped in electricity before she rammed him, half-burying him into the ground and electrifying him.
Very angered, Cankentriops got up and jumped high in the sky. When he fell back, he violently smashed the ground.
And pretty much the entirety of the Dark Side of the Moon erupted into terrible earthquakes and giant geysers of electricity, and the shaking spread to the rest of the satellite.
The shaking was felt all the way to the battle that was still happening at the other side, almost making the two fighting mechas topple.
"Seems like the BigEye is going serious," Jupacc observed.
"Oh bother... We should hurry up here before he ends up blowing up the Moon with us still on it," Zutr said.
By now, the two robots were in very bad shape, electricity sparking here and there as their hulls were now full of holes. The Megakoopa had lost one of the big cannons mounted on its shell and its jaw was stuck hanging open, and the Super Robobrood had lost most of its hat.
Then, the Robobrood received a Banzai Bill in the face followed by a punch, and it countered with a swing of Tukaral's hammer filled with electricity. Despite the hit, the Megakoopa grabbed the arm holding the hammer and used it to lift the Robobrood before slamming it on the ground. It then kicked the smaller robot while it was still on the ground until it was stopped by the Robobrood sending electricity from a hand. The Megakoopa saw it coming and had barely the time to place its wand in the way to intercept the electricity.
The five weapons of the Branches of the Pentacles then appeared and floated around before they each unleashed electricity at the Megakoopa. Since the wand was already busy with the electricity from the hand, there was no way for the Megakoopa to protect itself from them.
Instead, as it tanked the electricity, starting to smoke worryingly from many places, the Megakoopa sent a powerful fire breath from its mouth.
And finally, a chain reaction of explosions began in the Super Robobrood, ending with the mecha itself exploding and expelling the possessed Broodals in different directions.
Jupacc was the first to recover and looked around at the situation. The Cankens were still very numerous, but with the Robobrood gone and with the Koopa Troops still having their huge mecha, the leader of the Branches understood that the situation wasn't at their advantage.
And they judged that they had done enough diversion by now.
"Time to return to the pyramid and wait for the BigEye there."
At this, Jupacc left Madame Brood's body before he teleported away. Following his example, the other Branches left the Broodals and flew toward the planet, followed by the surviving Cankens.
Kamec pointed his wand at the retreating army and yelled, "We must press on! All troops, return on the ships and follow them!"
The Megakoopa, with some difficulty, walked toward him. Once he was close enough, Ludwig asked, "What about Sweetie Belle?"
"Mmh... Let me see with her."
Kamec reached to Sweetie Belle with the mental link that was still present.
What is it, Kamec?
The Cankens have retreated. We're chasing them back to the planet. How is this going on your side?
I'm still fighting Cankentriops. Don't worry about me. Give me a few minutes and I will join you at the pyramid. By the way, good job guys.
Kamec couldn't stop a blush. It wasn't everyday that he was complimented. He then relayed what Sweetie Belle said and Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings left the Megakoopa (which looked like it was about to fall into pieces) before they joined the rest of the armada and flew after the Cankens.
The battle between Sweetie Belle and Cankentriops gained in intensity by the minute. The Dark Side of the Moon already looked like nothing after the Canken's earlier attack, but since then, it got much much worse.
Sweetie Belle teleported herself just in front of Cankentriops' face and used the Crash Ability, enveloping the giant possessed fire-breathing turtle into an explosion. Despite this, Cankentriops was able to smash her with so much force that he sent her right through the Moon.
Cankentriops looked down at the hole she left, daring her to return from this. What came out of the hole, however, was a huge beam that he took right in the face, followed by the filly appearing behind him before she punched him on the back of the skull, smashing his head on the ground.
Sweetie Belle then felt something different as Cankentriops raised his scepter while still on the ground. By the time she understood that he was using the Aether Star, it was too late.
An intense flash came from the scepter that blinded the filly, and the flash was followed by a huge beam of intense light.
When the beam disappeared, all that was left of Sweetie Belle was a blackened husk that crashed not far from Cankentriops.
This time, he was sure that she was dead.
But to his shock, Sweetie Belle got up, skin regenerating.
He immediately got up and fired another beam of light only for her to deflect it with a simple punch before her ten swords levitated around her.
The next thing he knew, he was punched on the face so hard that he was sent flying into space only to be punched again and he crashed hard back on the Moon.
He got up with a roar and fired yet another beam of light. To his surprise, a portal suddenly opened in the way and the beam entered it. Then, another portal appeared behind him, and the beam came out of it and ended up hitting him on the back of his head, burning Bowser's hair.
When Cankentriops recovered from the hit, he found himself surrounded by dozens of tears in the very fabric of space. The tears then opened and unleashed huge space beams that hit him from all directions, followed by hundreds of sharp waves from Sweetie Belle's swords.
As soon as the attacks stopped coming, Cankentriops searched Sweetie Belle and, upon finding her, used the Aether Star to send black holes from his scepters.
Only for Sweetie Belle to send bigger black holes that swallowed his. Once all of Cankentriops' black holes were gone, she then merged her black holes into a giant one that she absorbed before she surrounded her horn with her ten swords and unleashed a giant beam that seemed to be made both of light and darkness. Cankentriops teleported to avoid it and reappeared further away. But when the beam hit...
It blew up a huge chunk of the Dark Side of the Moon. An explosion that, while mostly hidden by the Moon itself, could still be seen from the planet if the sky wasn't covered by the Cankens' dark clouds.
Cankentriops still was conscious, floating in space among debris of the Moon, but after THAT...
Well... He was conscious, but he had to use all his will to not close his eyes. He didn't want to leave this body yet.
So he returned to his normal size and teleported away just as Sweetie Belle had been about to fire another laser.
"Drat!"
Sweetie Belle knew where he teleported to. Deciding that she will repair the Moon later, she rapidly flew back to the planet.
The group of heroes finally reached the big room where Wario and Waluigi fought the big golem the first time, with the door behind which the Cankens had been sealed.
Without losing time, Apple Bloom blew up the golem which had been rebuilt with a single blast of energy before the group passed the door and entered the room where the Cankens had been sealed.
The labyrinth, in the end, had only taken a small portion of the pyramid, between the entrance and the golem's room. The rest of the pyramid? It was this room.
It was dark. It was large. And right there, not far of the door, they saw Peach, eyes closed in a praying position, in a cage floating above the ground, above a very small hole. Despite the darkness of the place, she somehow was clearly visible to everyone.
Everyone was clearly visible to everyone. It was unnatural. This whole room felt unnatural.
"Princess!" Mario shouted.
Hearing him, Peach opened her eyes and looked at Mario and the others with pure joy. "Mario!"
But before they could do anything to save her, Bowser suddenly appeared under the cage. He immediately dropped on a knee, his body filled with injuries of all kinds.
It didn't take him long for him to spot them. "What? You are here? You've got to be kidding me..."
Phantom smirked. "Seems like Sweetie Belle gave you a bad time."
"You don't say..." Cankentriops growled.
Then, he planted the scepter into the hole in the ground.
The next instant, the whole pyramid began to shake.
The Cankens had arrived at the pyramid a bit earlier, quickly followed by the Koopa Troop armada that immediately started another battle. Sweetie Belle then arrived just in time to one shot the dragon which had been possessed again and had been about to breathe electricity.
Just in time to witness as the black stones composing the pyramid suddenly flew toward the sky, disappearing into the dark clouds which began to swirl as if a tornado was about to appear. As the stones disappeared, some remained on the faces of the pyramid which became smoother. Then, the pyramid opened from the top, more stones coming out of it while the faces slowly lowered onto the sand.
To everyone's amazement, the pyramid became a giant pentacle!
The black stones that had disappeared into the clouds then returned and placed themselves on the five branches of the pentacle to form walls and roofs, the branches thus becoming some kind of fortresses.
However, the pentagon in the center remained without roof, and Sweetie Belle could see, at the very center, Phantom, Apple Bloom, and the others facing Cankentriops with Peach trapped in a cage floating above him.
"May the ritual... beg-"
Cankentriops was brusquely interrupted by Sweetie Belle crashing on him.
"You thought I would let you go? Our fight isn't over!"
"You... little..." Cankentriops growled.
Sweetie Belle suddenly turned around to parry Jupacc's chakram as the second of the Cankens appeared to help his leader. The other Branches also came, flying down, each armed with their respective weapons. The heroes readied themselves.
"Don't bother with them," Cankentriops said as he got up and took the Aether Star that Juppac immediately grabbed. "Take the Elemenstars and do what you must. We must bring our Lord to this world. At ALL costs."
The four other Elemenstars then came out of secret holes in the ground all around and the other Branches took them before the five of them went to enter one of the five fortresses that formed the branches of the giant pentacle. The others attempted to stop them or to follow them, but they were stopped by doubles of Cankentriops appeared and blocking the entrances, the clones protected by shields.
"If you want to go after them, then you will have to defeat me first!" Cankentriops shouted.
Only to be finally knocked out by none other than Bowser Jr. ramming him on the head with his Junior Clown Car from above.
"Get out of my dad!" he yelled.
Kamec came just after as Cankentriops himself finally left Bowser's body. Sweetie Belle then didn't lose time to heal him.
Thanks to Bowser Jr.'s move, the doubles had disappeared, but it was already too late. From the five fortresses, five beams of different colors, red, blue, brown, green, and white, came and hit Peach. As the Princess yelled in pain, the energies of the five star merged in her with her own magic before it came out as a black beam that hit the center of the pentacle, under her cage.
And a small portal appeared, slowly growing.
"Finally!" Cankentriops shouted before he opened the cage and threw the now unconscious princess at Mario. "You can take her back. She's not useful anymore. Now, to stop the ritual, you would need to remove the five Elemenstars from their emplacements. But will you succeed before the portal grow big enough to let our Lord come to this world? I don't think so. I can already feel Him approaching. It's only a matter of minutes. This world is doomed! It's over!"
"I don't think so, you stupid cyclops dwarf," he heard, his attention turning to Bowser who was just waking up. "We won't give up, even if it means giving this Lord of yours the smack down of his life. I intend to rule this world, I won't let some schmuck like you or that thing you serve destroy it!"
"Then come! As long as I'm alive, I won-"
Cankentriops suddenly disappeared in a big explosion caused by a beam hitting him, courtesy of Sweetie Belle. When the smoke of the explosion cleared, nothing remained of the leader of the Cankens.
"Less blah blah, more action. We've five stars to get, and they probably will be defended by the Branches of the Pentacle," Sweetie Belle said.
"Well said," Starlow said as she came out of Mario's pocket along with Stuffwell.
"And to get the Elemenstars in time, I devise that the best plan of action would be to split up into five groups," the living suitcase said.
At this, the heroes exchanged glances, immediately knowing which groups to form.
Sweetie Belle, Phantom, and Apple Bloom.
Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi.
Wario and Waluigi.
DK, Diddy, and Dixie.
Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Kamec.
Sweetie Belle pointed to one of the five entrances, the one from which the white beam was coming. "My group will go there. The Aether Star in this direction, and Jupacc will certainly be with it. Better to leave him to us."
The others agreed.
"As for us, we will guard the Princess and keep an eye on the portal," Starlow said, speaking for herself and Stuffwell.
Again, everybody agreed.
With nothing more needing to be said, the groups separated and entered the five fortresses.
All the while, the portal continued to grow, already several meters wide.
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Which we already know Sweetie Belle is fully capable of following through on. In fact, the portal will be big enough for her before it's big enough for their god so disrupting the ritual would actually be harder at this point than just punching out the god. Especially since his realm is even more empty than the desert...
Everyone she's faced in the recent months with this chapter included: Sweetie Belle OP! PLZ Nerf!
11048644
The usual nerf is that she cares about collateral damage. The only time we get to see stuff like this is with villains who confront her in a barren wasteland (and I chuckled when Cankentriops said that he did so on purpose because he cared about collateral damage).
11048638
She would rather prefer attempt to interrupt the ritual than enter a fight where she would have a 50% chance of victory, more or less. She will fight Crakkthulx only as a last option.
11048644
Okay. *Gives Sweetie a Nerf gun.*
cdiscount.com/pdt2/1/3/4/1/700x700/has5010993809134/rw/nerf-ultra-blaster-one-motorise-25-flechette.jpg
11048653
Do I have to explain the joke?
11048654
At least it isn't a minigun. ….Aaaand I just imagine Heavy facing Sweetie Belle.
11048662
If you have to explain the joke, there is no joke. (If you know where that's from, you know why I take his opinion on these matters seriously)
11048666
Yes, I know where it's from.
Is the Warioware games and their characters canon in the Mario universe that Smash Crusaders are currently visiting?
11049285
Yep. I'm guessing that they must be somewhere in the same continent than Metro Kingdom.
Somehow, I should be surprised, but I'm not that there could be something that could negate the supposed infinite power of the Phantom Ruby and is in the bad guy lair
11054160
I haven't gotten the occasion to explain it, but the material these black stones are made from isn't from this world. With the Cankens serving a god-like being, it is easy to guess that he must have something to do with it. It must be logical that stuff of godly origin (or close enough) can counter the power of the Phantom Ruby which is not THAT infinite because, then, Sonic, Classic Sonic, and the Avatar would have never been able to defeat Eggman's final robot without the Chaos Emeralds.
It just clicked for me on this readthrough that Sweetie Belle punched Cankentriops so hard he hit escape velocity. Sure, it's the escape velocity of the Moon, but that's still 2380 m/s. In fact, doing some math real quick:
Assuming that Sweetie's hoof was in contact with Cankentriops for a few milliseconds, which seems like a reasonable estimate, that means that he accelerated from rest to over 2 km/s so quickly that he accelerated at about 800,000 m/s2. That's about 80,000 Gs. Bowser's body is absurdly tough.
Going further, we can assume Bowser's somewhere in the range of 200 kg based on his weight in Smash compared to DK and the mass of an average Gorilla, and he's canonically three meters tall. Since his Giga Bowser form seems to be depicted as around half the height of New Donk City Hall, which is based on the Empire State Building, that puts it at ~200 meters or so (to make the math easier, I'll round down to 198 so his height changes by a factor of a nice, even 66). That means that his volume increases by a factor of 663: 287,496, and if we assume that his mass is proportional to his volume, that increases his mass from 200 kg to 57.5 million kilograms. And Sweetie hit that hard enough to hit 800,000 m/s2. That's about 4.6x1013 - 46 trillion - newtons of force. Forty-six teranewtons. That's the same force as if all the food the Earth produced in one year was gathered up into a big ball and dropped on you. And she was holding back.
Sweetie Belle is wonderfully terrifying.
11208078
I just saw this comment.
I love when people use maths to show how ridiculous characters are. Reminds me of the Death Battles. And remember, not only she held back, but she is getting slightly stronger and stronger by the days thanks to her void mark (representing her maturity toward godhood) slowly covering more and more of her body. Eventually, she will be able to punch planets like this. Probably not in this story, but this will be a possibility for her some time in the future.