Bowser Jr. and the 99 Red Balloons

Part One

I am Matthais123. This is a story based on the greatest rock song every made, "99 Red Balloons" by Goldfinger. The first time you hear it, it's awesome. The second time, it's depressing. But when you listen to it many more times, it's the absolute greatest song you ever heard! I put the lyrics in this story, only I changed the words around just a tiny bit. By the way, Bowser Jr. rules! Here we go!

(This story is told from Bowser Jr.'s point of view.)

I paced across my room for about a whole hour. I really wanted to do something to make King Dad really proud of me. I wanted to strike a really hard blow against the Mario Bros., and their silly Toad friends too, but how?

I soon realized that I needed some advice, so I thought to myself, who has the best ideas in the Koopa Kingdom? I suddenly began to hear the sound of Koopa Symphony on a piano coming in through the wall. Then, it hit me like a Bullet-Bill. Ludwig! He's the oldest, not to mention a genius. So I quickly ran over to my oldest brother's room.

I knocked on the door, and the music promptly stopped. Ludwig von Koopa threw open the door, looked over me, and shouted, "Who is interrupting me during one of my Koopa Symphonies?" Then he slowly looked down at me. He then smiled and said, "Oh, hi Junior! What's up?"

"Ludwig, I need your help," I said, "I want to get revenge on the Mario- no! The whole Mushroom Kingdom! I need you to help me think of a big enough plan."

Ludwig looked down at the sheet music he was holding and mumbled, "Aw come on. Can't it wait till later…?"

"No, it can't!" I insisted, "Come on, it won't take too long! We can be quick! Come on, Ludwig! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!"

"Alright, alright; I guess I've stayed inside long enough anyway." Ludwig sighed, "We'll go outside to think. The fresh air will be good for our brains."

"You know so much, Ludwig!" I said, playing on his vanity

He smiled and patted me on the back. "Come on, let's go!"

We sat on the highest balcony of King Dad's castle for about an hour, but neither of us could think of anything, that is, not until I suddenly got an inspiration from a very unlikely source. I looked down at one of the lower balconies, and I saw my big sister Wendy looking out into the horizon, holding a bright red balloon. I thought about how funny it would be if it just popped out of nowhere, and then the idea hit me.

"Hey, Ludwig!" I said, "What if we tie a whole bunch of Bob-ombs to a whole bunch of balloons and then send them to Toad Town! Oh, I can just see the chaos it would cause!"

Ludwig shook his head and said, "Nah, it wouldn't work. They see em from far away, and then they'd probably have the Mario Bros. shoot em down before they got too close. Besides, Bob-ombs really don't do much damage. They can only destroy Brick Blocks. If you really want to get revenge," Ludwig them smiled widely and continued, "shouldn't you want to cause some real damage?"

I nodded and said, "You're right, Ludwig. Forget it."

"Actually, it is kind of a good idea, using balloons like that…" Ludwig suddenly froze for about 20 seconds, and then, he smiled even wider than before, if that were even possible, and he said, "Heeeeey! I just got the most awesome revenge plan ever!"

"What is it?" I asked eagerly.

Ludwig pulled me close by my bandana, and he whispered his plan into my ear.

Ludwig and I entered the little toy shop in the castle and walked up to the Koopa behind the counter.

"How can I help you boys?" he said.

"We need 100, big red balloons," I said with a sly grin.

The Koopa turned to a bunch of drawers behind him and loaded a big bag full of the balloons. He turned back to us and said, "Red is a very popular color for balloons. I'm afraid I only have 99 of the big ones left. Sorry."

"99 will do," Ludwig said.

We each paid half of the cost of the balloons, and we left the store with them.

"Tomorrow at the break of dawn?" I asked Ludwig.

Ludwig nodded solemnly and said, "Tomorrow at the break of dawn."

The sun was just beginning to rise, and Ludwig, Kamek the Magikoopa, and I were up at the balcony again. For each of our 99 balloons, Kamek coated it with magic dust; I breathed a fire ball into it; Kamek put a final spell on it; Ludwig tied it shut with a string, which would also keep its flight steady; and we let it go. When we were finally done, the three of us just stood back and watched them go until they were all gone.

Kamek turned to us and said, "You boys are such geniuses. Bowser will be so pleased when the results of this attack come back. Lakitu will probably come back and tell him about it. Then, I'll tell your father all about how it was your idea, and how I helped, of course."

I laughed and said, "Sure, Kamek; just remember, not a word to anyone until the news arrives straight from the Cloud-Koopa's mouth!"

Kamek nodded and flew off on his broom.

I rubbed my hands together eagerly and said to Ludwig, "When those things go off, it is gonna be sweet!"

Near the border between the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms, a special, mushroom shaped bunker was built after our last kidnapping scheme. It was equipped with a special early warning system to warn against any future kidnap attempts, or any other elements of danger. This could have foiled our plans, nut luckily, the software had too many bugs, and it didn't catch the 99 red balloons that went by. The Toad soldiers on duty might have seen the balloons, but they were napping at the time, all ten of them. Our plan was going to succeed.

BOOM!

Our bombardment had begun!

The first balloon smashed apart the roof of a house in Toad Town. Frightened Toads ran out of the house, screaming in terror. Ha-ha! Whimps!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More balloons began to hit more houses. Some also began to hit signs and street lamps. A few houses even began to catch fire. The sound of alarms, sirens, and bells filled the air of Toad Town. Ha-ha! Music to my ears! It's red alert in Toad Town!

Toadette ran out of her flaming house. She looked around at all of the destruction that surrounded her, her fellow Toads running around, screaming.

"The Mario Bros.! Get the Mario Bros.!" was all that ran through her head, and she ran off, dodging flying rubble as more and more balloons brought destruction to Toad Town.

The Mario Bros. had decided to sleep in that day, but the loud explosions threw them into uneasy awareness.

"Hey, bro; what was that?" Luigi asked fearfully.

Before Mario could say anything, Toadette burst into the house.

"Mario! Luigi! Help us! There's something here from somewhere else!" she shouted

"Huh? What are you talking about, Toadette?" Luigi asked.

BOOM! BOOM!

Mario and Luigi ran to the window to see more of our 99 red balloons blasting apart some more buildings.

Luigi turned to Mario and said, "Balloon bombs? Hmmm, I smell a Koopa!"

Mario nodded in response. Suddenly, there was a strange eagerness in their eyes, an eagerness that could only be caused by a new Mario Bros. adventure, but not just any adventure. Oh no, this would be the adventure to end all adventures. These were the first 99 "shots" of the Koopa- Mushroom War! The war machine had finally sprung to life!

Mario and Luigi focused their attention back on the sky, filled with the remaining red balloons.

"Princess Peach! Princess Peach! Show yourself!"

These were the shouts of a huge mob of Toads at the gates of Peach Castle. Princess Peach eventually came out on her balcony, with Toadsworth right by his side. Thee recent chaos and destruction had made him look even older and frailer than usual. The last of the balloons had finally gone off, but the carnage had only just begun.

The Toads shouted up at their Princess, "Peach! Count us! There are 99 Toads in this mob, one for every causality! We've counted 99 victims of this cowardly attack by those Koopas! If you don't promise swift retaliation, we're gonna lead the rest of the Toads against the Koopa Kingdom ourselves, even if we have to use pots and pans as weapons!"

Peach turned to Toadsworth and said, "Help me! What should we do?" Everything was happening way to fast for her.

Toadsworth grabbed her by her dress and shouted hurriedly, "CALL OUT THE TROOPS NOW! These Toads are so riled up, that I bet they could actually fight the Koopas as good as Mario could! Speaking of which, Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad could lead them all as generals! That'll be perfect! We'll get Professor E. Gadd to help with the battle plans too! Go ahead, announce it to the mob! I'll get E. Gadd and our four generals!"

As Peach informed the mob of their plans, Toadsworth took off and ran towards the Warp Pipe in the castle courtyard. He had so much to do, and so little time.

Within the Peach Castle conference room, Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Peach, Toadsworth, and Professor E. Gadd were all seated around the table.

"…and so," E. Gadd concluded, motioning to what looked like four black Super Mushrooms with fuses on them, "My bombs should easily reduce Bowser's Castle to dust. That'll give those Koopas a taste of their own medicine! It'll be up to our four captains to get these bombs into the right position around the castle, but it should be pretty easier for our four superstars here!"

"Hear! Hear!" Toadsworth shouted.

Peach nodded and said, "Well, now that that is settled, I'd say it's about time to address the Toad Army that's waiting outside. Luigi, I want you to talk to them."

Luigi turned pale and stammered out, "M-m-me? B-but I'm sure Mario would-,"

E. Gadd chuckled and said, "Come, come now, Luigi! You know very well that Mario is a man of few words. Besides, you are quite the brave fellow. Remember hoe you saved Mario in that haunted mansion with my Poltergeist invention? You're the right man for the job!"

Mario nodded and said, "Oh yeah! That's right, Luigi!"

Luigi smiled nervously and said, "Well… okay, I'll do my best!"

The four captains stepped out onto the balcony, and were greeted by an army of Toads, armed with spears and shields, all yelling out battle cries. Luigi pulled at his collar and said, "The Koopa Kingdom has been bullying the Mushroom Kingdom for many, many years. But this terrible act of violence and blind destruction is just indescribable. It's time to take the fighting to them! It's time to stop being weak and avenge our causalities!" Luigi looked over to the ruins of what once was Toad Town, and he threw his fist up into the air and shouted, "This is what we've waited for! This is it, Toads, this is war!"

The Toads shouted their approval to this impassioned speech. Luigi, Mario, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad warped down to the front of the army via Warp Pipe, and the whole army broke into a fast march straight to the Koopa Kingdom.

Perhaps spurred by the tension of war in the air, tons of lava geysers began bursting up out of the ground around the King Dad's Castle. The Toad Army was fast approaching.

Blue Toad wiped the sweat off his brow and commented, "Woo! It sure is hot! It must be, like, 99 degrees Fahrenheit over here!"

Luigi pointed out to the castle and said, "Forget about the temperature, here they come!"

The entire Koopa Troop of Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Spinies, Buzzy Beetles, and even Lakitus were headed right for them. Out in front were the Magikoopas Kammy and Kamek.

"Charge!" Luigi shouted.

The two armies ran, and clashed.

From the top of the highest tower, I sat with my siblings and King Dad as we watched the battle from above using binoculars. Iggy looked back at us with wide eyes in his thick glasses and said, "WOW! Those Toads are fighting like demons!"

"What are you talking about?" King Dad asked, looking up from an entry he was writing in his journal. He wasn't the "leading into battle" type of king, and besides, he was sure that his entire Koopa Troop could take down a bunch of wimpy Toads with their hands tied behind their backs.

Iggy gave King Dad his binoculars. He looked through them, and gasped as he witnessed a Toad knock a Koopa Troopa senseless with a swing of his spear. We all witnessed even more shocking actions through our binoculars during the next half-hour.

"What has come over those pushovers?" King Dad said.

"It must be anger from having their town destroyed," Larry said.

King Dad growled and said, "Those Toads have worked themselves into frenzy! They might even reach the castle for all we know! If I had the jerks that sent those 99 red balloons without consulting me first right here, I'd tear them all limb from limb! This is their entire fault!"

Ludwig and I exchanged very worried glances.

"Hey, Daddy," Wendy said, "Remember after a Lakitu told you about that 99 red balloon attack, Kamek wanted to tell you something, but then another Lakitu came and delivered a Declaration of War document from Princess Peach, and you didn't have time to hear what Kamek had to say. Maybe he knew who did it!"

Ludwig and I exchanged very terrified glances, and then we both silently prayed that Kamek wouldn't snitch on us.

Roy looked around threw his binoculars and said, "Hey! Where are the Mario Bros. and those two annoying Toads? I can't find them. Where did they go?"

The answer to that was simple. The four generals had finally pushed through the Koopa Troop and arrived at their proper places around the castle. After placing and arming their bombs, they used their Propeller Mushrooms, and flew right out of there.

The Toad Army saw them take off, and they knew that it was the signal to head for home, because with the bombs in place, they had won! As the Toad Army ran off, the Koopa Troop stood staring back at them, confused. But then, they began to take up a rousing cheer of victory, that is, until they heard the bombs go off behind them.

We all lay unconscious in the ashes that were once King Dad's Castle for a few hours. Then, we all dug ourselves out, all but one.

A few hours later, King Dad, Larry, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Morton, Wendy, and I were all standing in the ruins with our heads bowed in grief. All of our dreams, gone. It was all over, and there I was, standing little in the dust that was our castle. I soon found myself wishing that I could find some sort of souvenir, just to prove that our home was once here. That wish was granted when I saw a small red balloon, lying in the dust. I picked up, and stared at it. Fighting back tears, I inflated it with my hot breath, tied it shut, thought of Ludwig, and let it go.