The Boos all surged towards Peach, gliding right through the toads when they tried to stop them. Peach backed all the way up to the edge of the cliff and then activated her Rage Stone, sending bursts of flame extending in all directions. The Boos froze at the bright heat and began to back away. Peach stepped forward and the Boos glided back, retreating from her fiery power.
It was raining hard, so even when Peach extended her fire power, nothing caught on fire. Peach walked them back until they were huddled around the King Boo again. Their master seemed more immune to the brightness of light. He observed Peach with calculating eyes.
"Impressive," he admitted.
"I think I'll do the talking here," Peach said coldly. "I have some questions-you'd better give me suitable answers or I'll destroy you're little goons."
King Boo grinned. "Agreed."
"First: what have we done to upset you?"
"That's easy," King Boo sneered. "First - and foremost - you've invaded my home without any permission other than that of your own whims. You've no idea of how long Shriek Mansion's been standing: for eons and eons, it's been the living headquarters of Boos that have no other regular haunts to live in. This region is dark and brooding in itself, but Shriek Mansion is the darkest haunt around - therefore fit for Boos, which you have invaded. And cleaned."
"Second, you are the Witch. As of late, you've been the most notorious of the villains that have ever been present on this island. This is why the VIHC was created-to eliminate you and your toad-y threat."
"The Vibe Island High Council," Peach said. The King Boo looked surprised.
"Ah, so you know it then?"
"Bowser's tricked you," Peach said. Her flare began to ebb slightly, and the Boos leapt forward, but the King raised his hand and they reluctantly held back. "The council was created to keep me from rescuing a friend that he single-handedly captured. He's turned you against me without any cause."
"Hardly. You've put Ladida Plains and the Hoo's Wood up in flames," the King snarled. "Right now, Petey is gravely ill and the Hoo is missing. I should think that she's looking for you right now, searching for you so that she can rip you limb from limb."
"I'd like to speak for myself, thank you," a voice said before Peach could speak. With a flap of wings, the Hoo dipped down and landed right in between Peach and the King Boo. The giant ghost and his comrades looked shocked.
"Hoo?" the King cried. "You...you're here! And...you can speak!"
"I don't speak often, not unless I need to talk to someone who doesn't understand Owl," the Hoo retorted. "I have the Wiggler for that."
The King Boo's eyebrow crinkled. "What's the meaning of this, Hoo? You're alive and you don't attend the latest council meeting?"
"I've dropped from the council," the Hoo declared.
The King's jaw dropped. "Whyever so?"
"Because the Kamek - and the Witch - are correct," the Hoo stated. "Bowser is a tyrant that wants nothing but power and domination. His hand on the Vibe Scepter should be sufficient proof of that. He has kidnapped, pillaged, and lied without reason. The Princess had told me of that. I believe that she is correct."
The King seemed to have been stuck on the first sentence out of the owl's mouth. "You're defending the Witch!" he screeched in fury.
"With just cause," the Hoo retorted.
"This is inexcusable!" The King was furious. "What reason do you have for defending her? Have you seen your forest? Everything is in ashes."
"That may be so," the Hoo snapped. "But she is gifted...with the Vibe Necklace."
The ghost's scowl faltered. He was stunned. "The bane of the Scepter?!"
"Indeed."
"How...how can this be?"
"There is only one explanation for that," the Hoo said. "She is good. You know the legends and myths. The Vibe Necklace is the closest thing to purity. Vibe Island would only reveal it to someone whose heart is in the right place and who is fighting evil with good."
The King Boo was speechless. His beady eyes flitted from Peach to the Hoo, almost as if he couldn't believe any of it or couldn't decide what to believe. Then, he growled and gnashed his teeth. "The technical truth of the matter means nothing to me," he snarled. "This does not change the fact that this Witch has invaded my home and altered it irreparably!"
"We did you a favor when we cleaned your shack, buddy!" Toader snapped.
The King looked outraged. "Attack!" he ordered his ghosts.
"You're making a mistake!" the Hoo said.
The sea of Boos rushed forward, shrieking with laughter and baring teeth. They were all headed towards Peach!!
The Hoo plowed through the crowd of ghosts with no effect. The toads tried slashing with their daggers and shooting their arrows, but none of the ghosts were affected. Peach finally did some damage by bursting into flames and shooting fire outward. The heat and/or the light battered the ghosts, turning some into ash and fending the others off.
But there were too many. Where a couple dissipated, fifteen others took its place. It was a hopeless battle. So as Peach always did when battles seemed hopeless on the ground, she took to the air.
Peach clenched her Joyful Stone. Ghosts were blown back like bowling pins as her cyclone appeared around her. She leapt off the ground and flew into the air, trying to lead the ghosts away from the toads to give them a chance at finding safety.
"You cannot escape my magic!" the King roared, throwing up his hands. The trees around them began to creak and crack, snapping out of their stiff positions. They moaned as their branches began to close and trapped Peach inside them. Struggling with the tight branches, Peach canceled her Joyful Stone and activated Rage, burning the trees to crisps as they burst into flames. She reached to activate Joyful again as she began to fall, but more trees reached out and grabbed her. She turned on Rage again, and when the trees were in ashes, she tried to fly away, but the trees grabbed her again before she could escape.
This isn't working! Peach thought again. Whenever she turned on Rage, she was put at a disadvantage because she couldn't fly away as soon as she was free. The trees were very fast.
Okay, I have to try something new, Peach thought, gasping as a couple more trees grabbed her. Rage, Joyful...I-I've never done this before...but I need you to both be activated at the same time. Give me powers over both Rage and Joy!! Both hearts lit up on Peach's necklace, and she felt herself begin to float as flames rolled off her body, setting the grabbing trees on fire. When her cage was gone, she swept up into the air, out of the reach of the enchanted trees.
The ghosts and toads were steady fighting below, the toads punching and kicking and slashing and the ghosts looking up at Peach, ignoring the feeble attacks of the toads. King Boo was in the center, glaring up at Peach.
"You may have escaped that," he snarled. "But wait until the next round!"
The trees, before Peach's very eyes, began to grow and stretch at an abnormal rate. Their trunks stretched up towards Peach, twisting and curling, until their canopies surrounded her. Frightened, Peach flew in through the twists of trunks and roots and finally came to a stop. Collecting herself, Peach threw her hands out and thrust spears of fire in all directions. The enchanted trees immediately burst into flames, but were momentarily replaced by others. Peach soon found herself overwhelmed with enemy trees, and she threw fire everywhere, even to where targets had disappeared.
Peach began to tire. Toads were still fighting below to no effect, and the King Boo had all of his concentration pinned on Peach.
Peach suddenly had an idea. King Boo was more immune to light than his subjects...but just how far did his immunity go?
Pointing a finger, Peach incinerated a twisted tree directly overhead and flew through the gap. Upon exiting, she found with some degree of surprise that the trees had formed almost a cage around her. Shivering, she flew higher and higher.
"What's that blasted woman doing now?" King Boo's voice got fainter and fainter as Peach climbed higher and higher into the cold sky. She became immersed in dark storm clouds, and the air sizzled with heat as lightning struck nearby.
When she felt that she was high enough, Peach completely canceled the Rage Stone and let Joyful's full power take over. Her cyclone appeared around her, and Peach commanded in her mind, Unleash your full power. Blow all of these storm clouds away. Let the sun shine!!
Sharp, cold air blasted in all directions, cutting through the dark storm clouds like knives and pushing them far, far away. Air whirled around Peach, making her tangled hair blow around and her raggedy dress flap around her legs. As the clouds dissipated or were blown away, the sun began to rise, until it was in full view.
"Blasted Witch!" King Boo shouted, shielding his eyes. He was immune to weaker light, but the full glory of the sun seemed to be too much for him - already, his army of Boos were turning to ashes in the sun. Others squeaked with pain and struggled to retreat to the trees. King Boo rushed after them.
"Amazing, Princess!" Perry exclaimed as Peach flew back down and landed.
Peach nodded. "It's not over yet, though," she told her gathering group of toads. "The Boos and their King are retreating, but we've got to make sure that they don't come back. Quickly! Gather some sticks!"
It was very odd that the sun was out - Peach was so accustomed to this region's perpetual darkness that the fresh sunlight hurt her eyes. She and her toads set to work finding some spare sticks. Using Rage, Peach lit them all on fire, and then they set to work running through the forest, chasing any straggling Boos with the torches' light. King Boo was huddling in a cluster of trees that gave him a scanty bit of shade to hide in. The trees were relentless with rain or wind - their leafless branches, as usual, let everything in.
When King Boo saw Peach and her squadron of toads running towards them, he jumped up and cried, "Boos! Back to Bowser's Villa! Use the shadows!"
Each Boo then ran towards a tree casting a shadow - and disappeared into the darkness. Toadonelly was in hot pursuit of Booella. When she slipped into a nearby oak's shadow, Toadonelly ran right after her...and slammed into the tree's trunk. Likewise, every Boo disappeared into a shadow. Soon, they were all gone.
Peach and her Boos met up back at the Shriek Mansion, tired and sweating. "Are they all gone?" Peach panted.
Toader nodded vigorously, grinning. "Yes ma'am!" he cried. "We did it, folks! Our hideout is safe!!"
Everyone cheered.