The last chapter of this story is here!

Enjoy! ;)

Final Chapter: Rashay's Moon Cellar

It was finally time; to end Rashay and save Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom. With all the Stars they collected, this shouldn't be a problem, right? They looked for a pipe placed inside some kind of cellar door that was located next to the UPSs and went down.

They were inside Rashay's Moon Cellar, a dark and deep cellar that was used to drain the Mushroom World's energy. Inside was a single circular green checkered platform that was actually a tower and there were four different colored bridges on each side; they each offer different challenge towers that one of our heroes can take on individually due to their own limited abilities.

As they showed up at the main tower, there was a cylindrical glass dome in the middle probably leading to Rashay's lair. Speaking of which, they heard Rashay's voice from below:

"Oh, so you finally came to bring me my stars? Took you long enough! I'll be waiting for them down here. Try not to die before arriving here! Hahaha!"

"Man, this Rashay guy is just as menacing as Bowser!" Luigi said surprised.

"We'll have to reach him somehow. I bet those challenges will remove this glass dome." Mario looked at the four challenge towers around him.

"Alright, I'll take the red one." Wario heads to the red bridge.

"I'll go for the lavender one." Luigi heads to the lavender bridge.

"I'll choose the white one." Yoshi heads to the white bridge.

"And I'll head to the yellow one then." Mario heads to the yellow bridge.

First, let's check out the challenge across the lavender bridge: it was a snow-themed tower with a deep snow path making a spiral to the top and there were snowballs rolling down. Luckily, there was a red block holding a Power Flower at the beginning of this course, so Luigi's vanishing ability would be useful.

The man in green immediately grabs the Power Flower to become invisible and passed through the snowballs as he makes his way to the top. At the end of the path was a dark purple switch. Once he pressed it, the dome below vanished a little bit.

"First challenge tower completed!" Luigi announced.

Next, the challenge tower across the red bridge: it was a lava-themed tower, which was made out of cobblestone like the platforms and the ramp making a spiral. There were lava waterfalls in the wall and lava pools on the other side. Just like the lavender challenge tower, there was another Power Flower at the beginning. Wario's metal ability is highly recommended.

The man in yellow uses his metal ability to burn himself to some lava pools on his starting point so that he could reach the platform just above him, and thanks to the metal ability, Wario didn't take damage from the fire, so instead he only bounces up.

After avoiding rotating fire bars (though he could just pass through them in metal form) and bouncing on more lava, Wario reaches the dark red switch on top of a cobble stone platform, making the dome vanish a bit more.

"Second challenge tower completed!" Wario announced.

Now for the challenge tower across the white bridge: it was a wind-themed tower, and just like the lava-themed one, this tower was made of cobblestone. Majority of the platforms were clouds and wooden planks and there was also a winged ship located halfway the path holding a Power Flower on it, so Yoshi's fire breathing ability must be used to progress.

The green dinosaur starts on the first wooden plank and flutter jumps to the cloud above. He jumps on another plank and arrives at the winged ship to grab the Power Flower. Now capable of breathing fire, he lights the three torches on the grassy platform, and this caused some cube platforms to show up on the tower's walls.

Then, he jumped on two more clouds to reach the dark grey switch on the topmost plank, and the dome was now transparent, almost fading away. Just one more switch left!

"Third challenge tower completed!" Yoshi announced.

Finally, time for the challenge tower across the yellow bridge, and it's the toughest one: it was an electric-themed tower, now made out of steel like the platforms, there were electric fences, and Scuttlebugs wandering the edges of some platforms. Worse, there was no Power Flower in this tower, so this all relays on Mario's jumping, wall jumping and wall kicking abilities.

The man in red begins by jumping at some yellow steel platforms and beating up some Scuttlebugs. Later he had to do a wall jump to reach a higher platform and do a wall kick to defeat a Scuttlebug that was about to ambush him and to get to the last set of platforms.

Soon, he reaches the black switch that made the dome disappear completely.

"Fourth challenge tower completed! And now the way to Rashay is opened!" Mario announced.

With that, the four exited the towers and went back to the main one, where they noticed that the cylinder was now working as an elevator.

"Maybe I should go and beat Rashay by myself. You guys wait here." Mario told them.

These words made his friends shocked; why does Mario want to defeat Rashay alone? After the great adventure they all had together?

"But… Why, Bro?" Luigi questioned.

"Because this is a job that I must do it by myself. After all, I am considered the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and Peach cares so deeply for me. But not only she's in trouble; the whole kingdom is in trouble. And I always survived while fighting brand new enemies like Rashay. For many times I've been battling Bowser over and over again, so I might be able to face off against Rashay alone."

After saying that, Mario stepped into the elevator and his friends watched him descending deep in the cellar.

"Mario... Why?" Yoshi lamented.

"Geez, I might be his main rival, but he has gone way too far!" Wario argued.

"I agree with you, Wario." Luigi spoke in a serious tone. "We cannot leave my brother alone no matter what. Besides, he has been on our side for many times, remember?"

"Yeah." Wario and Yoshi nodded in unison.

"So we must find a way to get to him quickly."

Meanwhile…

Mario found himself somewhere on the moon with an aqua green tower ahead where Peach was being held captive behind a gate. Soon, Rashay showed up in front of the tower, but he looked a little different than the first time Mario met him: instead of just eyes, a grin and hands, he now has a light blue body. As Mario glared, Rashay laughs evilly as he begins to speak:

"Oh! It's you! What's up, old pal? Remember me? I'm the guy that is going to end the world. Surprised to see my new form? I was able to regenerate some of my power… It's not perfect, but ehh, it's gonna be enough to not take you serious, hahaha. I know you won't just hand me the stars, so let's play a little game. I'll play with you until you are very tired and then regain my full power with your stars!"

"We'll see about that, Rashay! Because I never get tired!" Mario shouted in anger.

"Hmm… Shall we begin, if you said so?"

Rashay floats away from Mario, stands above a short tower and throws out hexagonal rock discs to attack our hero from midair. However, Mario was able to use those discs as platforms in order to reach Rashay from the tower. However, Rashay uses his claws to shove Mario away from him.

"Hah! Bet you didn't see that coming, did ya?" Rashay teased him.

"Ugh, shut up!" Mario growled as he was standing up from the ground. "Huh?!" suddenly, Rashay flies next to his face!

"You know what? THAT GAME WAS BORING! I'LL HUNT YOU NOW!" Rashay yelled furiously and begins to chase after Mario, trying to attack him with his claws.

"GET BACK HERE!" Rashay yelled as he flies faster.

"Oh, no!" Mario notices that Rashay was getting close.

However, Rashay suddenly teleported in front of Mario, and because he wasn't expecting that, he was grabbed immediately by the villain. Rashay attacks Mario with his claws VERY badly as if the latter was being tortured.

Finally, Rashay sends Mario crashing to the ground hard. If we look at Mario, we can see that he was all bruised up and very injured; parts of his body had small fabric rips, showing the cuts and blood coming out.

"I…can't believe it. That Rashay is too powerful than I expected… I really shouldn't have told my friends those things back there… Now I feel guilty... Luigi… Yoshi… Wario… Now I really need you guys…" Mario said in his thoughts.

Everything seemed hopeless for our hero. But suddenly, three voices were calling for him:

"MARIO!" they were from Luigi, Yoshi and Wario!

"You guys…" Mario slowly stands up as his friends approached him. "…how did you get here?"

"Your brother just found a secret passage leading us to here. I say this guy is rather lucky." Wario explained.

"We couldn't leave you alone to fight Rashay, even if it's important to you." Luigi said.

"Yeah, I already figured that out. I'm sorry for being quite harsh on you all. Now I'm all bruised up and it's all my fault." Mario whimpered.

"Not to worry, Mario! We actually know a lot about these Power Stars!" Yoshi chirped. "You know that power doesn't come from your strength, it comes from the unity and the trust of your friends. That's when the Power Stars come in; they are symbols of trust and union."

"With that, we can power you up with all these Stars we've collected." Luigi said.

"You will be able to jump higher and run faster! And your wounds will heal quickly!" Wario added.

"And after you beat him, we'll save Peach together!" Yoshi finished.

Eventually, a golden glow surrounded Mario's body, and all of his injuries were healed; even the rips in his fabric were magically repaired. Rashay looked at the four heroes and spoke in unbelief:

"That glow! Did you just drain the star energy?! I should have taken you at least a little serious!" but then, he does an evil grin. "Congratulations! You've just gained the right to witness a god's semi-perfect form! Bow down!"

Then, Rashay spins his body rapidly and a beam of light shone on him, and he was now a giant skeletal beast with its ribs working as arms since they had Rashay's claws on their ends.

"Go now, Bro! Defeat Rashay and save the princess and the Mushroom Kingdom!" Luigi encouraged.

"Don't let our union bring you down! If it does then what else do you got?" Wario smirked.

"You got this, Mario! We're all counting on you! After all, we're your friends!" Yoshi cheered.

"Thanks a lot, everyone." Mario gave a confident grin to them before taking off towards Rashay's new form.

Thanks to the power of the Stars, Mario was now moving as fast as Yoshi, jumping as higher as Luigi, and possessed stamina as strong as Wario. Rashay begins to attack Mario by sending falling meteors at him, but he dodged them with ease. Then, with his high jump, he jumps over Rashay's head and does a ground pound on him.

After the first strike, Mario attempts to jump over Rashay directly, only to get bitten by him. Just like before, his injuries were healed quickly. He manages to get above Rashay and ground pounds him again, this time, on his 'spines'.

Now Rashay was weaker; because of that, he was flying on the lower level, making it easier for Mario to catch up to him and do one three final ground pounds on his head.

Rashay flies into the air in a disoriented trajectory, screaming in pain and in defeat, and his bones fall to the ground and explode. Mario then notices his friends rushing to him, looking all happy.

"You did it, Mario!" Yoshi cheered.

"Hey, good job!" Wario exclaimed.

"Now let's hurry and free Princess Peach!" Luigi said.

They all nodded and went to the gate where Peach was trapped. Mario then used the power of the Stars to free her.

"Thank you all for saving me!" Peach thanked. "The star power can put the moon back up into space. Let's fly back to the Mushroom Kingdom and celebrate both your victories with a party and lots of cake!"

"Yay!" the four heroes cheered.

Later…

Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, the moon was gone from the sky and back to its orbit, thus the kingdom was saved. At the castle's courtyard, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Wario and Yoshi were gathered on a picnic table having a party eating together one of Peach's best cakes.

"It was nice of you all to lend your own power to defeat Rashay in the end." Peach spoke. "Together, you guys saved everyone! Now, let's enjoy some cake!"

And with that, the Mushroom Kingdom was saved from destruction thanks to the union of our four heroes Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi.

The End

Yeah, I think this story was quite weak compared to the others. But that's because I just really wanted to write because I enjoyed this ROM Hack, that's it.

But don't worry! After this story, it is now time to get back to more Mario and Sonic crossovers! I'm going to start a brand new Saga showing the Mario and Sonic from Galaxy Heroes' other ancestors! I hope you'll look forward to the first story of my new Saga!

Fairy out! ;)