Prelude
"Luigi!" Mario's voice rang inside my head. It made sense at first, because I was having a dream where Mario and Bowser were going at it again and he was asking for my help while I was hiding behind… something. But when Mario from my dream said "Wake up, will ya?" I knew then that something was wrong.
My eyes opened slowly on that warm summer morning. The sun hadn't been up that long, but Mario was already fully dressed. This wasn't his usual get-up, either. He was wearing the rare 'clean' plumber outfit.
I got up slowly and stiffly before looking at my brother. "Wow. What's the occasion?"
"Sheesh, you forget already?" Mario rolled his eyes at me. He knew my thoughts weren't coherent until about an hour or so after I wake up in the morning, so he was probably either just messing with me, or in a real hurry. "The Princess invited us to vacation with her in her summer home on Yoshi Island, remember? We only been planning this trip for a two months, now!"
"Oh, no! That was today?" I asked, having honestly forgotten the trip. But then, the dream I had wiped my memory of everything I did yesterday to make sure I had enough spending coins for the trip, so… yeah.
I jumped out of bed and ran into the shower as quick as I could. While I got the water running, I could hear Mario's sigh, which was probably his way of reminding himself of how I get in the morning. "Hurry up, already," he said calmly.
"I'm-a hurrying! I'm-a hurrying!" I said quickly as I slapped the shampoo into my hair.
"Lord Bowser!" Kamek shouted as he rocketed through the King of Koopa's lair. Eventually, he entered a round room where he found Bowser and his strongest generals talking strategy. "There you are, Your Evilness! You won't BELIEVE my latest break-"
"KAMEK!" Bowser roared at the interruption. "WHAT do you think you're doing!"
"Lord Bowser, sire, I have developed a new magic technique that will greatly boost our army's-"
"Do you think I really CARE about YOUR magic? You've already PROVED your uselessness! Now GET OUT!"
"But-"
The studded red door slammed in Kamek's face. In response, he sighed raggedly. "But I can make the Mushroom Kingdom defenseless…"
"Nincomkoopa," Bowser scoffed behind the thick metal door. Kamek, upon discovering that he can hear quite well behind it, decided then to eavesdrop on the meeting, if only to find out what's more important than making Mario fall.
"Dude," Red, the leader of the Koopa Brothers, spoke up. "I'm telling you, we're better off letting them go. The castle will be totally defenseless while they're gone."
"How many times have we tried that?" Bowser growled. "Mario always shows up and takes it back. Garrisoning the castle is not an option."
"The last time we tried that, we relied on that painting magic," the leader of the Hammer Brothers retorted. "If we garrison the Mushroom Castle more in the style of this cas-"
"AND HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE LAID SEIGE ON THIS LAIR!" Bowser roared. "NO! That's not an option either. We strike now, while the shell is hot, and THAT is FINAL!"
The spiky red door catches Kamek in the face as it whips open, flattening him between the door and the wall. It was this moment that Kamek truly despaired, for his master's short temper ripped through yet another brilliant plan.
Note from the Author: I was going to add the plane sequence in, but it would make more sense as the opening to the next chapter. Read and review plz!
