The Evils Within

Chapter 20

Hiding amongst the shadows of Central Sarasaland, a hooded figure poked its head out from an ally, in search of something. Or rather, someone. Flying overhead was the ruler pro tempore, Kamek. Stepping out from their place of hiding, the hooded figure approached a nearby abandoned fruit stall. Gripping the stand from one side, they tipped it over, before quickly retreating to the shadows.

The resulting crash caught the magikoopa's attention. Turning around, Kamek flew down to investigate. He looked around to find who caused the commotion, confused as no one was around. Before he could take off again, the hooded figure jumped onto his broomstick, wrapping their arms around him in an attempt to pull him off. Successful, the two both fell to the ground, Kamek's broom now flying off in random directions.

Kamek struggled to break from the figure's grip, using his wand to pry their hand off of him. As the figure let go, Kamek rolled away, stopping just short of the figure's feet. He quickly jumped to his feet and pointed his wand in the figure's direction. The figure stood up as well, looking down to Kamek as they were twice his height. Intimidated, Kamek fired a ball of magic from his wand, only to have the figure evade it by stepping to the side.

Kamek took a step back as he fired another ball of magic, the figure easily avoiding it once again. He took a few more shots before he was inevitably backed into a wall. With nowhere left to go, Kamek began to charge his wand.

Just overhead, Kamek's broomstick sporadically approached, just missing the hooded figure's head before ricocheting off a nearby structure. As it flew back, the figure extended their arm to grab it out of the air, tightly gripping it to prevent it from flying off again. It shook in its hands as the figure redirected their attention to Kamek. They swung the broomstick to him, knocking the wand out of his hand. The wand flew up, firing its charged ball of magic into the sky before falling back to the ground beside the two.

They both glanced at the wand, then to each other, before darting towards it. The hooded figure reached the wand first, pointing it to the magikoopa, causing him to back right up to the wall he stood at before.

"Call them off!" The figure spoke in a familiar feminine voice.

Kamek was quick -- and rather hesitant -- to respond. "N-never! Like I would go against my king's demands. Especially for a mere peasant like you!" He replied shakily, barely hiding it behind a confident facade. "And besides, I doubt you even know how to use that," he taunted.

The term 'peasant' struck a nerve with the hooded figure. They were angry before, but now, they were rather enraged. Much to Kamek's dismay, his wand began to charge, its tip glowing in his face. He blinked, not taking his eyes off the wand as it slowly glowed brighter before he threw his hands up in surrender.

"Alright! Alright! I'll call them off!" Kamek exclaimed. It had seemed he had already given up, but Kamek doesn't give up so easily. The hooded figure slowly lowered the wand as Kamek put his hand to his mouth and let out one long whistle, attracting the attention of the nearby enemies. They had all stopped dead in their tracks and turned to the direction of the sound. It didn't matter what they were doing, whether it was terrorizing Sarasaland citizens or just patrolling the streets, the wave of paratroopas surrounding the kingdoms darted towards Kamek's location, prepared to attack the hooded figure that was threatening him.

The figure redirected the wand to the oncoming horde, firing the now large ball of magic, taking out a cluster of oncoming enemies. The broomstick continued to fidget in the figure's hand, giving them an idea. They slightly loosened their grip, enough to allow the broom to fly around once again and to still hold onto it. As the broomstick flew erratically around the paratroopas, the figure used the wand to shoot at them, only occasionally having them land as the broomstick's movements were unpredictable.