The Dryad's Loyalty

Chapter 3: The Nemesis

The fall eventually came to an abrupt stop, with Bowser hitting his shell on the ground below and Hazel shortly followed him, landing on him instead and bouncing slightly. They subconsciously clung to him, still scared and shaking, keeping their eyes shut.

The koopa king blushed slightly; Hazel looked kind of cute when they were all scared like that... he shook his head, snapping out of that thought "Could you-- get off of me?" he grunted, his back aching from the fall, though he'd been through worse.

The dryad looked up at him, their dark eyes briefly meeting his piercing red ones, which glowed in the darkness in that hole they'd fallen into. They blushed as well, quickly jumping off the big koopa "S-sorry! D-didn't mean to- to rest on you like that but- hey t-thanks for breaking my fall!" they giggled nervously.

"D-don't mention it..." Bowser muttered, somewhat embarrassed as well. He finally got back up now that Hazel was off of him and stretched a bit, wanting to make sure his back hadn't been damaged "More importantly... where the hell are we?!"

"H-how am I supposed to know?! I told you, I never set foot out of my forest-" Hazel pointed out, looking around themselves, noticing that the walls around them were way too regular for that to just be a sinkhole... that place was manmade!
Then suddenly, the most snobbish laughter resounded above that trap, and Hazel finally connected the dots. "Oh no... it's you!"

"OH hohoho! Hello Hazel, it seems like you've fallen into my little trap~" a voice cooed in a mocking tone, until a figure was finally visible: it was a man floating around with what seemed to be a jetpack, gloating and cackling.

"Who's that up there? Do you know him?!" Bowser asked, gritting his teeth.

"Prince Raj..." the dryad replied, glaring at the human flying above them "He's the one who's constantly threatening the forest!" they explained, clenching their fists.

"Oh my, such harsh words... that's not how you should introduce me to your friend there! I'm not 'threatening the forest'... I simply want to transform part of it into my holiday residence!" the prince said, his voice sickeningly sweet, as he took out a strange remote and toyed with it.

"I'll never let you! This forest is a natural reserve, you can't just do what you please in it!" Hazel yelled, taking flight, ready to get out of the hole and attack the prince, when suddenly... Raj pressed a button and Hazel's action was cut off by a massive steel wall, which they nearly slammed against. "What the hell is this?!" they banged on the wall while prince Raj laughed more.

"Oh you know... just a little something to keep you and your friend still!" He explained, his voice muffled since he was on the other side of the wall. "Now if you'll excuse me... I have construction plans to get to! Toodles!"

Hazel kept banging their fist against the wall until it felt sore "NO! Come back! Come back and fight me you coward!!" they screamed, tears streaming down their face as they slowly landed back to the bottom of the hole, falling to their knees and weeping.

Bowser looked at the crying dryad, a displeased look in his eyes as he did not want to deal with an emotional wreck right now "What are you crying about now?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"He's going to destroy the thing I was born to protect, don't you understand?! And- and I can't do anything about it cause I'm trapped in here with no way of getting out! I have failed..." they sobbed, hiding their face "A-and what's worse is that I dragged you into this whole mess as well"

The koopa king scoffed "You call this puny steel wall a mess? This is nothing!" he said, smirking "I suggest you get behind me... wouldn't want to fry you up"

Hazel looked at him in confusion, but did as they were told and hid behind Bowser's shell. 

The koopa king began taking a deep breath, and suddenly, Hazel could feel his whole body warming up.
Then, with little to no effort, Bowser spit out a continuous blast of fire so strong and hot that the metal wall was melted in seconds, dripping down on the king, who seemed completely unbothered by them, still, he shifted slightly, so he could shield Hazel with his arm, knowing they most definitely weren't heat-resistant.