"Shoot her MORE," Matt called back, hiding behind a piece of shielded rubble.

Mario and Luigi scrambled towards some other chunks of wall to avoid Mecha-Cackletta's assualt, stumbling away as a laser or missile narrowly destroyed the cover they were launching towards. Finally, Mario pulled out a green shell from his pocket, tossing one to Luigi as well. They dodged another stream of laser beams and threw their shells at the metallic witch.

Mecha-Cackletta cried out as the shells smashed into her body, momentarily disturbing her balance. "Bah! Curse you!"

Matt knew when an opportunity showed himself, and he took it. "Thunder Blast!" he called, firing a bolt of powerful lightning that slammed into Mecha-Cackletta and forced her into the wall.

"Yes, because that's really working out so far!" R.D. snapped back. He let go of the shield and nodded to the two plumbers after their impressive throw. "Keep her busy! Matt, ready the Cannon!"

The Azurewrath disengaged into its standby mode, resting on R.D.'s forearm and leaving his hand free, and he thrust both arms out, hands splayed out. Rays of light blazed out from a single point, before expanding into a bright sphere of golden energy.

Matt threw out his fists, gathering power towards them. "Megaton..."

"You won't win!" Mecha-Cackletta screeched, soaring through the air and peppering lasers at the group. Another well placed shell attack disrupted her flight pattern, and Mario and Luigi followed - Luigi smashed her to the ground with a jump attack, flipping off as Mario came in with another one, pinning her down with another impact.

Eventually the energy gathered by the two boys reached critical mass, and R.D. thrust his arms forward, firing his attack.

"Giga Flare!" he roared, causing the sphere to explode into a brilliant spear of golden energy. The beam quickly expanded as it lanced towards Mecha-Cackletta.

Mecha-Cackletta threw up her arms and generated her barrier, meeting the beam with a display of power. "Ugh...impossible! You should be weaker than me! I have the Essence!"

"Yeah, you can talk the talk, all right!" Matt shouted. "But when it comes down to the wire, it looks like your walkin' needs some improvement!" He threw his hands forward. "Cannon!" The mighty Megaton Cannon erupted from his palms, a powerful blue beam crashing into the barrier alongside R.D.'s Giga Flare. The barrier fluctuated and flashed as it tried to stand against the twin beams.

"NO!" Mecha-Cackletta cried. "THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"

Luigi pulled out one final flower, this one flashing through all seven colors of the rainbow. Mario touched the petals along with Luigi, and their hands brimmer with more fiery power than even before. The brothers hurtled fireballs towards the sky, where they condensed into a massive looming fireball hovering over Mecha-Cackletta. The metallic witch looked up through her shield at the meteor above, panic spiking her limited features.

With one wave of his hand, Mario sent the fireball crashing down.

"CURSE YOU, MARIO BROTHERS!" Mecha-Cackletta shouted, as the massive fireball shattered her shield and the beams charged through, the force of all three attacks cultivating a massive explosion that tore outwards, punching through the standing rubble and knocking everyone in the vicinity down.

Grunting, Alasea swung herself back up onto her feet. "Okay, I think the boys have had enough fun," she said. She looked around, gripping her sword tightly. "Everyone else okay??"

"Vengeance..." Fawful dribbled, currently facedown on the floor. "Sweet...buttery...revenge..."

Hugo conked the crazed minion on the head, finally sending him into unconciousness. "Shut up."

"I didn't think he'd be so tough," Helena growled.

"Same here. Come on - let's go make sure Matt and R.D. are okay."

"Where's Ileyna?" Alasea asked, looking about. She got a flash of blue from the corner of her eye, and spun about to see Ileyna already zooming out of the gaping hole in the wall. "Ileyna!"

The girl quickly halted outside, surveying the damage. "Matt? R.D.?" she called out, looking around. "Where are you?"

"Over here!" R.D. called from where he was kneeling on the ground. Smoke was rising from his armor, and he looked to be heaving somewhat--once again having overchanneled for the Giga Flare.

"We're fine!" Matt called, waving a distance from R.D.. He dropped his shield and scanned the blasted area for Mario and Luigi. Finally he spotted them crumpled behind a large chunk of castle wall. "Hey! You two alive over there?"

Mario sat up slowly, holding his head. He flashed a thumbs up at Matt, then yanked Luigi off the ground as he rose to his feet.

"Now we just need to find Cackletta and get the Essence out of her," R.D. said, standing up. "Anyone see where the bitch is?"

Matt walked over to the scorched crater dug into the courtyard. Jeez, they sure nuked this place hardcore. Sitting in the middle of the crater was a large pile of grey ash and bits of smouldering metal. "Uh...I think I found her. She ain't comin' into work anymore at this rate."

Within the pile, he sensed the pieces of Essence clumped together, and he whipped out the pendant. The shards rose from the ash, like twinkling blue stars, and surged inside the necklace. Looked like three nice-sized pieces from this perspective. Yeah, that sounds like the best thing to put inside a killer robot.

"We should probably nab Fawful while we're at it," R.D. said as he followed Matt over to the pile. "Interrogate him on how he got the Essence."

"I'll go get him!" Ileyna shouted as she flew back.

"Good work back there," Matt said to R.D., slapping him once on the shoulder. "That kind of stuff is why I hope I never fight you. That would be pretty annoying."

R.D. grunted when Matt's hand landed roughly on his armored pauldron, flinching beneath his helmet. The energy overload made him incredibly sensitive for a few moments. "Yeah, I dunno," R.D. replied. "You've shown when you get serious, it ends badly for who you're fighting."

He had the scar to prove it, at least.

A few moments later, Ileyna returned along with the others, with a bound and gagged Fawful seemingly floating in midair--likely held in place by the girl's Stand.

"... I swear, we can't leave you two alone together anymore," Alasea remarked, stepping around a chunk of rubble. "Everything blows up around you two."

"Be thankful the statue didn't collapse or something," R.D. replied. "This isn't nearly as bad as Greedy's fortress or Geese's tower."

"Don't jinx it, R.D.," Helena said. In her arms, she carried Baby Mario, with Baby Luigi hanging on her back between her wings.

Hugo's Grapple Option whipped off Fawful's gag. "I have depression!" the minion cried upon seeing the charred, dusty remains of Mecha-Cackletta. "So much work gone into reviving Cackletta, down into the mouth of a guy who will vomit it back up and make it useless!"

"Tell me how you got the Essence," Hugo said.

Fawful let his body droop, totally defeated. "The Essence...was a present. An evil present from an evil person." He pointed at Matt. "Looked just like him, but he had better hair."

At that, Alasea felt her blood go cold, despite the Fire Flower's power.

"Malvettix," R.D. growled, cracking his knuckles. "What the hell is he doing, going around and handing the Essence about?"

"Being a jerk, what do you think?" Matt said.

"There has to be a reason why," Hugo said. "How does it help him try to kill you?"

"I dunno. Malvettix doesn't operate in any kind of realm called logic, I think."

"Neither do you, though," Alasea pointed out. "Still, though..."

"Is it possible he's working with Magister?" R.D. asked. "Is he even capable of that?"

"Only if Magister gives him what he wants," Hugo said.

This was getting bad. "Let's hightail it out of here," Matt said. "I assume you want to take Fawful into custody, right?"

Mario agreed, and told them the best way to get back to the present was through another time hole, though maybe now that Princess Shroob was finally defeated, the castle gates could be opened now.

"Dunno why you'd want to keep him in custody," R.D. commented, as Ileyna started looking around. "Probably be better off just killing him. If this little jerk could cause this much trouble on his own... just to get back at all of us... well, I hate to see what other damage he could do."

"Just don't worry about it, R.D.," Alasea said, sighing. She idly straightened out Ileyna's beret when it slipped from her looking about. "We'll find a way to stop Magister and Malvettix and put an end to this blasted Core business."

"Do you guys hear that?" Ileyna suddenly spoke up. "I'm hearing something but I dunno where its coming from."

Matt's attention snapped around. "What is it? What does it sound like?"

Ileyna rolled her eyes up, thinking. "Kinda like..."

And suddenly the others could hear it--a familiar whistling sound that rose and lowered alternatingly in pitch, just like--

"--a bomb," she finished, before her expression turned grim.

The whistling grew louder and louder by the second, and then the others looked around before spotting something tearing through the sky, straight at the castle.

"Ah, shi--" Alasea's curse was cut off as the object impacted into the battlements, quickly pulverizing the rubble in its ground zero to a fine powder. The dust was kicked up into a large cloud, and then quickly turned into a cyclone by the object, which was still rapidly spinning.

Just as quickly as the cyclone appeared, however, it dispersed as the object stopped with a crash. The wind carried it off as the thing stood on two legs and stood tall, grinning maliciously at him.

R.D.'s stunned expression slowly twisted into a snarl of rage.

Matt let off a ragged, annoyed cry as he pushed himself up off the ground. "I am so tired of thiiiiiiis!" What the hell was going on now?

"I'll commend you on not running when you heard me," the creature said, standing where he had landed in a languid, relaxed stance.

"And I suppose we should commend you for waiting for our fight to end first, Re-Tuul?" R.D. shot back, looking furious.

The demon only grinned that hideous joker smile. Behind Matt and R.D., Alasea's expression turned grim. "Last thing we needed," she cursed quietly. "We don't have the power to take this monster on!"

"I guess there's little need for words, is there?" the demon said. "So, are you all ready to die?"

Oh, COME ON, you have GOT to be-

Okay, that's it. He didn't have time for this. "You know what, Re-Tuul?" Matt said, rising to both feet. "I've got two words to say in response to that." He whipped around and slapped both fists against his hips, emitting an amazingly bright light from his form. "Blinding Justice!"

The light quickly blinded everyone, forcing them to turn away from Matt's form.

And then came the slightly amused words of Re-Tuul: "I don't have eyes, idiot."

Energy ripped through the air, speeding straight towards Matt, only for R.D. to jump in the way with an energy barrier. The attack crashed into it, causing a brilliant explosion as the Blinding Justice faded.

"Nimble, aren't you?" Re-Tuul commented, sounding annoyed.

R.D. stood up fully, glaring at the demon. "Matt... take the others and go."

"Look, I know it was a tactical miscalculation, but I'm not THAT stupid," Matt remarked. "I'm not havin' you sacrifice yourself or anything stupid like that."

"Listen to him, R.D.," Alasea said. "I know you hate him but we have a more important mission to accomplish!"

"Exactly," R.D. said. "The Core's more important. Defeating Magister is more important. And with this bastard here, we can't accomplish that. Get to the portal. I'll hold him off."

Re-Tuul's grin widened. A chance to put an end to the Rising Dragon in a one-on-one match? It was like a dream come true.

"I'm not going to die here," R.D. said confidently, holding his arm up to keep the others back. "Get going, Matt. Make sure you get the Essence out of here."

Matt sure wasn't going to go with that. Fortunately, Hugo didn't either.

"Capture Option!" Hugo fired a bolo that expanded into a large net to try and restrain Re-Tuul. His G-Stone burned. "Tie him up and RUN!"

Matt slid to R.D.'s left and followed up, switching to the green gem. "Carnage Vine!" Thorny vines exploded from the ruined courtyard and unfolded into a massive-jawed plant, opening its maw to try and engulf Re-Tuul whole.