In a random act of craziness, two heroes from completely different worlds swap places: one finds himself on Starship Mario, traveling to the far reaches of the universe. The other winds up in Hyrule Field, battling demons he knows nothing about, wit...
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Chapter 13
Hyrule | Faron Woods – Sacred Grove
"Nice to see you again!" the gremlin cackled. "Why don't we play a game?" He poked Mario in the nose. "Bop! You're it!"
For a moment, Mario just stared up at the creature, confounded with this weird exchange. Then his eyes flashed to the Master Sword pinned under one of the boy's arms, and he said, "Hey! Give that back!"
He sprang at the gremlin, but the being just cackled again and vanished in a shower of fallen leaves — Mario crashed to the ground, nearly putting a crater in his chin. Eyes watering, he pushed himself up again and saw that the creature — the Skull Kid — had appeared further down the tunnel, standing in the chilly light that lay beyond.
"Catch me if you can!" the Skull Kid taunted. Then he put something to his mouth and blew — some sort of trumpet, only this one had six or seven pipes. The horn let out a warbling cry, and more Puppets appeared out of the shadows, seemingly like magic, surrounding Mario and Ashei. With a gleeful cry, the Skull Kid then turned and ran with the Master Sword.
Blast it! "Get back here, you brat!" Mario shouted.
A squeal from behind told him that Baby Luma was in trouble — spinning, he found that several Puppets had pinned his friend to the ground, where he was kicking furiously for freedom. A little ways away, Ashei had risen back to her feet and was facing an approaching horde of marionettes, but Mario saw her arms shaking. Would she be able to take them on?
No — they dove at her and she screamed as they carried her to the ground, burying her beneath a pile of wooden limbs and stitched smiles.
Springing into action, Mario dove for Baby Luma first, ripping a Puppet away from his friend and hurling it to the other side of the cave. The foe came away surprisingly easily; more surprising, though, was how the Puppet cracked apart when it hit the other wall, as though it had been held together with nothing but hopes and prayers. Midna was right — these things were practically harmless!
Encouraged, Mario knocked another off of Baby Luma with a swift kick, snatched up his friend, and held him close as he finished off the last one with a star spin; the spatial disruption sliced the Puppet right in half.
"Are you okay?" Mario asked his friend.
"I'm fine now," Baby Luma said, trembling a little. He looked scared out of his wits.
"All right, well hold on!" Mario stuffed Baby Luma beneath his hat and then made for Ashei, who was no longer visible save for a single gloved hand sticking out from underneath a pile of marionettes. Mario slowed as he got close, digging in his feet and using his residual velocity to star spin once, twice, three times. The move hit the Puppets like a twister hitting a pile of leaves, blasting the marionettes away and revealing Ashei curled in the fetal position at the bottom, covered in scratches. Mario hurried over to her and helped her up, and was shocked to see that her eyes were dark, and had that same hooded look that Baby Luma wore whenever he was traumatized.
