Mario and Luigi: The Missing Mushroom

by LuigiBRO

When a mysterious artifact is discovered, Mario and Luigi set out to retrieve it with some unlikely allies, only to receive a life-changing adventure. Filled with many humorous references, this story will keep you entertained the whole way through! :) I appreciate review so please let me know what you think of the story!

Mario and Luigi:

The Missing Mushroom

By: LuigiBRO

Chapter 1

It was an average day in the quiet forest. The trees were slightly swaying in the wind, and the smell of flowers was in the air. The whistling of the mailman suddenly could be heard coming out of the pipe, and the paratroopa flapped along the forest trail. "Ahh. I love this trail even if it is only a few minutes' walk," the happy mailman said as he arrived at the small house. Knock knock. "I'll be there in just a minute. Luigi's stuff is in front of the door," a voice yelled. The sound of things being thrown around could be heard through the door, and then it opened.

"Oh hi Parakarry, what do you have for me this fine day," the red plumber said as the paratroopa handed him a sealed letter. "All I have is this letter from the princess, Mario," Parakarry said as he turned around to head back through the pipe to town. Mario waved "bye" to the mailman, shut the door, and took the letter to the table to open. "Luigi! There's a letter from the princess in here," Mario yelled. "I'm coming bro. Just got to put up my figures you threw all over the house!" Luigi said as he picked up some small yellow people. Mario ran over and grabbed Luigi by the overalls and pulled him to the table. Luigi sat down and Mario opened the letter.

Chapter 2

"Dear Mario,

I have gotten news about a rare artifact called the Golden Mushroom. If eaten, it grants the consumer incredible powers; however, we aren't going to eat it. I want to get it and lock it up so Bowser won't get his hands on it. Please come to my castle for my plan to obtain the mushroom."

Signed,

Princess Peach

"Mamma Mia! A Golden Mushroom! Imagine the taste! It must be delicious. I wonder if it turns you gold and you can collect infinite coins, or maybe it's like a star and you can't be hurt! Gee Willikers!" Luigi speedily chattered. "Luigi, calm down! You heard the princess. We've got to get to Princess Peach's Castle," Mario said as he put the letter in his overalls and began to walk to the door. "Alright, alright. Before we leave, let me get some of my toys to bring on the journey," Luigi said as he ran into his room and grabbed various toys. "Wait bro. How do you know this is going to be a journey? All we are doing is getting a mushroom," Mario stared at Luigi with big eyes. "Uhhhh. I don't know if it's going to be a journey but normally our small quests end up being big quests. Yeah, that's what it is," Luigi suspiciously replied, "Let's go!"

Mario walked out with Luigi onto the trail to the pipe to the castle, and as Mario shut the door, he said, "Princess Peach, here we come!" While they walked along the trail, Luigi slipped and fell into the tall grass. Flashing lights appeared out of nowhere and battle music began to play. Luigi got on his feet to see across from him stood a small purple rat. "A wild Ratatata appeared!" The words boomed over Luigi. Mario gave Luigi a confused look and then walked over and kicked the rat off into the distance. Luigi put his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Field goal!" Then they both reached the pipe and leapt down it.

Chapter 3

Mario and Luigi popped out of the pipe into the middle of the town. Mario started off to the castle with Luigi close behind. "You close behind, bro? LUIGI!" Mario yelled after he turned around to see Luigi in line for entry to Mushrooms R Us. "Oh, sorry," Luigi said as he quickly scurried over to Mario. So then the two brothers continued through the town to the castle. Toads filled the town and were scurrying here and there. "Hey Mario! It's me, Toad! I'm on my way to Peach's Castle too so is it ok if I come with you?" A Toad yelled as he came out of the crowd towards Mario. "Wait how did you know that we were on our way to Peach's Castle?" Mario gave Toad a quizzical look. Toad's face twitched and he replied, "Hey Mario! It's me, Toad! I'm on my way to…," Mario interrupted him to say yes so the three exited the city and headed to the castle.

Luigi, Mario, and Toad walked happily through the forest and could see the castle in the distance. As they neared it, a bush rustled behind them and Mario cautiously went to check it out. "Hello? Who's there?" Mario worriedly said to the bush. BELCH! "Oh bro, it's just a belching beetle!" Luigi said, grabbed Toad's arm, and then proceeded down the road. Mario swiftly followed behind and left the beetle to its belching. Around noon, the threesome reached the palace entrance. "Welcome Mr. Mario and Mr. Luigi. Hi Toad," The gatekeeper said as he gestured towards the open gate. They all replied, "Hi Mr. Gate Toad," and walked into the castle.

Chapter 4

Mario, Luigi, and Toad went straight up to Peach's room and performed a breach and clear. Mario set the door with C4 while Luigi and Toad stood on the sides of the door. Boom! Luigi and Toad stormed into the room and started firing machine guns wildly. "Boys stop! Ahh!" Princess Peach screamed as she ducked and barely missed a bullet. "Sorry Princess Peach. It's a habit. Ok so what did you want again?" Luigi said as he helped the princess to her feet. "Ok, so just a few days ago, a Toad was strolling through the forest when he discovered a small hole in the ground. He went to investigate and jumped in. The hole was actually a tunnel straight down so Toad slid down pretty deep underground and came out in a room full of gems. Crystals lined the walls and in the center of the room was a… AHHHHHH!" Peach explained when a group of masked Toads grappled through the windows. "Sorry guys, the whole thing was cancelled. Peach didn't seem to like the breach and clear." Mario said as the masked Toads all sighed and said, "AWW MAN!"

"As I was saying, in the middle of the room was a Golden Mushroom on a diamond podium! The Toad tried to retrieve the treasure but as he touched it, a trap activated and the Golden Mushroom was teleported into a crystal. So this is where you guys come in. You two get the crystal with the mushroom in it and bring it up here. Simple, right?" Peach said and turned around to see Mario playing with a rubber band and Luigi throwing a paper airplane in the air, "BOYS! Did you hear any of that?" Mario quickly looked up and replied, "I heard everything but say it all over again just to make sure I got it." Peach angrily started jumping up and down on her bed like a gorilla and flung her pillows everywhere. "LUIGI! IT'S CHARADES! Yes, for once we have a fun way to get our chore of the week! Ok, ok. So, I think we have to jump up and down on an angry dream monkey and throw…throw pillows at it? No, we throw rocks!" Mario yelled in excitement as Peach waved her fists savagely.

Chapter 5

"Hmm? I think we didn't guess right on charades, Luigi. Toad, where have you been?" Mario said as Toad walked towards them. "Oh you see, when she started her speech I went to Starcoins and bought some coffee. Here I got you two some," Toad said as he handed the brothers the coffee. "Ok sorry for my outburst. So the plan is blah blah blah blah blah and that's it," Peach said as she exited her room, "I will show you to the hole." The plumbers and Toad followed the princess to the small hole in the ground and peered into it. "Uhhhh…This doesn't look safe. I don't know about this. WAHHH!" Luigi nervously said as the princess suddenly pushed him and Mario down the hole. The brothers flew down a dark dirt tunnel at high speed and the tunnel didn't seem to end. At last, a faint light appeared and they were shot out in the crystal-covered room. "Wow. This place is amazing. What are you doing, Luigi!" Mario shouted as Luigi stuffed handfuls of crystals in his overalls. Luigi smiled sheepishly and then pointed to a cyan, glowing crystal that had something inside it.

"Wow there is something in it! It's…It's the Golden Mushroom!" Mario exclaimed. Mario approached the crystal and gently started freeing it from the ground. Luigi walked over and Mario handed the crystal to him. Both of their eyes were the size of watermelons as they carefully climbed up the tunnel with the crystal. "EEEPPP! A spider!" Luigi shrieked and the crystal began shaking. "Calm down! We've got to be careful to get this thing up. Just ignore it." Mario said to calm Luigi. "Ok. Is it gone? Have we passed under the spider web yet?" Luigi whispered as he looked over at Mario. Mario's eyes enlarged as he saw the massive spider on Luigi's hat, and he nonchalantly replied, "Yeah. It's gone." As Luigi looked away, Mario got his hat and smacked the spider off Luigi, but then the spider started attacking him. He grabbed it by the throat as the spider sprayed web all over his face, and then Mario put it under the crystal and smashed it. The spider waved its broken leg at Mario and yelled, "I'll be back! I'll squash you, Mario!" Then the brothers reached the surface.

Chapter 6

"You got it! Pull it up!" Peach yelled as the brothers pulled the crystal to the surface. Mario, drenched with sweat, replied, "I'd love to princess but this crystal isn't a bag of feathers!" Luigi exclaimed then made a pinching gesture, "Mario! The crystal is pinched!" Four Toads quickly helped get the crystal and brothers out, and then they brought the crystal to the princess. "Oh wow. How beautiful! Well time to get the Golden Mushroom out!" Princess Peach said as she pulled out a frying pan and shattered the crystal to bits. Mario and Luigi's jaws dropped. "You mean we didn't even need the crystal! We could've busted the mushroom out and gotten up hours earlier!" Mario screamed at the top of his lungs. "Nope, the crystal wasn't even necessary in the first place. I just needed the mushroom. Tehe," Peach answered. Luigi calmly scratched his head and said, "Peach, can we talk to you in a REALLY dark alleyway?" Peach nodded and the brothers "talked" to her.

"This is incredible! The readings are off the charts," Peach said as she pointed to a monitor that was flashing red, "So my next plan is to seal this thing up in one of the Candy Kingdom's Gumball Guardians. Hmm? What's that? Ooohh so this is the Mushroom Kingdom. Ok we will seal it up in the royal treasury." A Toad then said, "Ok this is the second time this week I've had to remind you about your kingdom," and then he walked off. "So the quest is over? Now YOU have to do something?" Mario said as he sprinted to the door. "MARIO!" The Toad that had come to the palace with them said as he burst through the door and collapsed on the ground, "At…At the gate…It's…It's Bowser! Protect the Golden Mushroom! If he learns about its power and eats it, he'll be invincible!" Mario angrily stared at Toad and yelled, "I can't get away from a job for even a second! The worst part is you just told Bowser about its power! He was standing in the doorway!" Bowser smiled and said, "Wow and to think I was just coming here to say hi but now I've got a takeover plan!"

Chapter 7

Bowser blasted fire and scorched a group of Toads. Toads scurried everywhere and in every direction. Bowser lifted his leg up really high, exclaimed, "It's the Splash Zone!", and slammed his leg down on a Toad's head. A random crowd and stands appeared and the Toad's head bits flew all into the stands. Bowser smacked Mario into the wall and as Mario hit the ground he saw that Luigi was in the stands too! Mario grabbed Luigi and the brothers got in battle formation. Luigi jumped on Bowser's head as Mario used Peach's crown to cut his tail. Bowser shook everyone off and roared, "Give me the Golden Mushroom! Or…Or…Or the Toad gets it!" He snatched up the Toad from town and breathed small embers on his face. "Bowser, stop! Here's the mushroom," Peach said as she took the Golden Mushroom and walked towards Bowser.

"Good girl. Hand it to me," Bowser smiled at Mario. Mario shook his fist at Bowser and Luigi stuck out his tongue. "Here you go. The Golden Mushroom is right…HERE!" Princess Peach screamed as she punctured the mushroom with a shard of the crystal it came from. A massive explosion of light shook the castle and gold dust floated through the air. "GWAH? What happened? Where? Where is the Golden Mushroom?" Bowser said as he frantically looked around. "Uhh…Princess Peach, you might want to look at this!" Toad said as he looked out the shattered castle window. "Nah. I'm good," Peach said and sat down. "Peach, I REALLY think you should see this!" Toad said as he grabbed her arm and took her to the window. "Oh no. This isn't good...," Peach gasped.

Chapter 8

Six massive vortexes were in the distance in different directions and lightning could be seen striking around them. "Mamma Mia!" Mario said as he walked over to the window. "What are they?" Bowser asked. "Those are six different game portals. When I hit the mushroom, apparently, it broke into six fragments and entered into six different games. The Golden Mushroom is useless unless it's in one piece, so "we" need to collect them all! If we don't, I fear the worlds will all collide and destroy the Mushroom Kingdom!" Peach explained and walked sheepishly towards Mario and Luigi. "Oh no you don't! You aren't sending us on some death quest! Not this time! You are coming with us, princess!" Mario yelled and took Peach's arm. Luigi looked at Toad and then grabbed his arm. Then Bowser grabbed Mario's arm and Toad's arm while Peach took Luigi's arm. The whole group then started singing Khum-bae-ah and performed a ceremonial dance.

"You think you're going to get the pieces before me, Mario? Hah! This time I will actually get the pieces myself and not just wait until you get them all and then steal them," Bowser announced as he jumped out the window onto a small airship and flew off into the distance. "WOW! Bowser's being capable!" Luigi said as a giant scoreboard appeared out of nowhere. "CAPABLE ACTION PERFORMED!" A mysterious voice boomed and one point appeared on the scoreboard under Bowser's name. "Let's get going boys. Toad are you coming with us?" Peach asked as the scoreboard vanished. Toad nodded and the team walked out of the castle.

Chapter 9

Toad led the way with Mario and Luigi behind and Peach in the back. "Wait. Where are we going?" Peach said and everyone stopped to look at Toad. Toad looked back sheepishly and replied, "Wwwweeeeeeellllll, You see I don't really know I was just heading back to town so I could go get into Mushrooms R Us." Everyone gave Toad a savage look and then, right as they were going to beat him up, a shadowy figure jumped out of the tree behind them. "So, I hear you are looking to retrieve the Golden Mushroom fragments before Bowser, but you don't know how to get to the portals in the first place. I've got your answer right here. This map will show you the way. Goodbye," The shadowy figure said and jumped into a bush leaving the map on the ground. Peach picked up the map while Luigi ran over and dug through the bush. The shadowy figure looked up and exclaimed, "Huhh!" in a scared little boy voice. Luigi then joined up with the rest of the group to look at the map.

"Hmm…So to get to the first vortex we must go to Delfino Plaza!" Peach announced. Mario suddenly looked nervous and said, "Uhhh…I don't know if I should go there again…You know after that whole me getting framed thing…" Peach answered while patting Mario on the back, "Don't worry! They forgave you once you showed it wasn't you. You'll be fine! I'll go get Toadsworth to fuel the plane for takeoff." Mario sat down and notice Luigi and Toad were gone! Mario leapt up and started screaming their names as loud as he could. No one answered. Suddenly, Luigi's scream could be heard from town and Mario sprinted towards town. "LUIGI! Where are you?" Mario yelled as he entered into town, but then Mario noticed Luigi's hat laying on the ground near the entrance to a store.

Chapter 10

"Hmm? What is THIS?" Mario said in an art critic voice, "There seems to be a red stain on the inside of Luigi's hat. A red stain on Luigi's hat...Hmm, the hat seems to be in front of Mushrooms R Us…Ahh! I've got it! It seems that as Peach told us the way to the first vortex, a group of Goombas captured Luigi and Toad and brought them through town towards Bowser's Castle. Luigi attempted to fight but was slammed into Mushrooms R Us' wall. His hat fell down into a pile of ketchup, and they successfully brought them to their base. My plan of attack is to run to Bowser's Castle and the rest is elementary, dear Watson!" Mario charged up to run and save Luigi, but then Luigi and Toad came out of the store. "Mario, what are you doing? We just went into Mushrooms R Us and got some snacks for the plane ride," Luigi exclaimed as he munched on a chocolate-covered mushroom. Mario gave Luigi a confused look and yelled, "But…But what about the stain on your hat and why did you scream?" Luigi replied, "Just what you said happened. I dropped it in ketchup and was letting it dry as we shopped, and I screamed because there was an awesome deal for caramel mushrooms."

"The plane's ready! Let's go!" Peach said as the brothers and Toad arrived back at the castle. Peach showed the team to her garden in the back. As Toad walked through the garden to the plane, he spotted a piranha plant burst out of the ground behind Peach. Peach screamed as the plant sucked her head into itself and closed its mouth. Mario grabbed her feet as she flailed around while Toad and Luigi tried to get the plant's jaws open. After a few minutes, the piranha plant spit Peach out and disappeared into the ground. Peach got up, brushed herself off, and entered the plane. Mario, Luigi, and Toad sat down in the plane and the plane took off. "To Delfino Plaza!" Luigi yelled.

Chapter 11

The plane breezed over the tropical ocean and the island could been seen in the distance. Mario and Luigi were playing chess while Toad and Peach were playing Poker. The plane hit turbulence and cards and poker chips flew everywhere. The chess pieces flew up and hit Luigi while Mario and Toad were trying to pick up the cards. Toadsworth came in and informed the team that they would reach the island in five minutes. "Wait, where have you been, Toadsworth?" Luigi said as Toadsworth had a flashback of sneaking on the plane in Mario's luggage. The plane began to land so Toadsworth didn't respond and ran into another room. "It's so beautiful! I love the ocean and beach," Peach exclaimed as she opened the plane's door.

Piantas crowded around the heroes and put flower necklaces around their necks. Peach waved elegantly as Toad accepted fruit from the natives. The familiar tropical music filled Mario's ears as he exited the plane, but instead of flowers, the piantas seized him and took him to the main Pianta Statue. Mario closed his eyes expecting the worse but suddenly a familiar voice sounded, "Hi Mario." Mario opened his eyes to see his old friend F.L.U.D.D. Mario quickly grabbed him and put him on his back. "Just like old times ehh?" Mario said with a smile. Luigi came over, grabbed Mario's arm, and said, "Bro, we came here to stop the vortex and get the Golden Mushroom fragment! It's no time to play around." F.L.U.D.D. then informed Luigi as they ran to the market to meet up with Peach, "I'll help you guys get the fragment!"

Chapter 12

When Mario and Luigi reached the market, Peach immediately ran over to them. "The portal entrance is at the amusement park! We need to get there now!" Peach said and then Mario, Luigi, and Peach ran towards the pipe to the amusement park. "Where's Toad?" Luigi asked as they entered the pipe. As they were launched into the sky, Mario spotted Toad on the beach, relaxing and drinking out of a coconut. Mario, Luigi, and Peach crashed into the amusement park and saw the vortex entrance. It was on top of the rollercoaster so they boarded the ride and prepared to enter another world. The ride took them straight up and, as they flew down the hill on the other side, they entered the vortex.

"WAHHHH!" Luigi screamed as he slammed onto the grass. Peach flew in behind him and scrubbed her head viciously, getting major turf burn. Mario popped in last and landed on his feet. They were on a giant flatland of grass with a massive base in the middle. There was a forest surrounding the whole place and there was an ocean on one side. As the group looked around, a lady in green came over. "Chief, our village is under attack!" The mysterious lady said as she clapped at a tree. Then a whole group of people who looked identical to the lady came over and showed the team to the town hall. "Listen this town hall is level nine, but our previous chief left! We need a leader. We need you!" The ladies said. Suddenly the sound of cannons and mortars firing alerted the team of an attacker. "GWAHAHA! Go wizards! Go Archers! Go P.e.k.k.a!" Bowser suddenly appeared from the woods and yelled these commands as enemies appeared!

Chapter 13

"Wahh!" Luigi yelled as he saw a group of pink-haired ladies shooting arrows at a cannon. "Please! You have to help us!" The friendly lady said as the cannon blew up behind her. Mario replied, "I'm sorry. We are only here to find the Golden Mushroom fragment." The lady's face suddenly lifted and she quickly said, "A Golden Mushroom fragment? Is it a chunk of gold?" Mario nodded and the lady continued, "We found it just today as we cleared a tree trunk! It's in our gold storage! However you can only have it if you help us attack King Bowser!" The lady pointed to the gold storage and there it was! The fragment was sitting atop a pile of gold coins. "Alright! We'll help you," Mario said as some hooded men shot lightning at another poor hooded guy on top of a tower of rocks. The man on the rocks was zapped off the tower and disappeared as he hit the ground.

The archers then burst through one of the crystal black walls and started firing at a tower where three friendly archers were trying to defend the base. Peach then charged up the tower and took up the bow, and she began firing arrows at the enemy archers. Luigi quickly ran over to the lady and asked, "Where can I get some weapons?" The lady responded, "In the clan castle! There are still some troops in there before we were kicked from our clan." Luigi ran into the castle and didn't come out. Mario began to run to castle but then the giant blue brute blasted through the walls. The P.e.k.k.a. cornered the lady and was about to end her, but Mario quickly ate a fire flower and shot a fireball into the brute. The brute then slammed into the ground, and right as the rest of the army was about to get to the town hall, Bowser yelled, "Retreat! We will be back!" As Bowser's army fled, Luigi, with a Viking helmet on his head and a sword in his hand, charged out with a giant man, an archer, and hooded man. Luigi sliced wizard after wizard as the friendly archer, giant, and wizard got destroyed by a P.e.k.k.a. The lady stared in awe at Mario, Luigi, and Peach, and then she smiled.

Chapter 14

"You all have incredible potential! Listen since Bowser is going to return, we need strong defenders. One of our wizard towers requires a wizard so…How about you, Mario, since you can shoot fireballs. Peach, your archery skills are incredible so you can wield this small x-bow. Luigi, your swordsmanship is amazing so you can wield this sword," The lady said as she handed Peach a crown and crossbow, Luigi a giant sword and crown, and Mario a hood. Peach, Luigi, and Mario geared up and all nodded to each other. Mario leapt onto the tower, Luigi got positioned on the right side, and Peach got positioned on the left side. Builders quickly repaired the walls and cannon and scurried back to their little huts just as Bowser marched out of the forest.

"Ready to get annihilated?" Bowser said as his army came out of the woods behind him. Mario smiled as he pulled the sheet from off the structure behind him. It was a mounted X-Bow and it was armed and ready. "Attack!" Bowser roared as ten wizards wrecked a cannon. A group of archers hit a spring trap as Luigi jumped the walls and ran towards the incoming troops. Peach fired her x-bow at the wizards and the ten were down in ten seconds. Then a group of skeletons with golden bombs blew up the walls and a hoard of barbarians ran over to Mario. Mario pulled the hood over his head and announced, "Let's a go! Fireball!" Mario blasted five of the twenty barbarians. Five climbed up on the front and five climbed up behind. Mario hit his five with a fireball as F.L.U.D.D. sprayed the other five into a mega bomb. Then a giant rock monster started to hit an archer tower, but Luigi ran over and sliced it clean in half with his sword. Bowser was shocked. He quickly ran as the rest of his army got destroyed by the X-Bow.

Chapter 15

"Let's take the fight to him!" The lady said as the team all celebrated the defense. The heroes all raised their fists and yelled, "Let's do this!" The army reached Bowser's town hall ten base and were ready to battle. Mario looked at his army and then at Bowser's base. Then Mario raised his fist and yelled, "ATTACK!" Golems, wizards, wallbreakers, and dragons charged forward. The wizard tower targeted the golems and started shooting at them, giving the wallbreakers time to reach and breach the walls. The wizards charged through the walls with Mario leading them, and they all began blasting the enemy archer towers. Peach ran in with the dragons overhead and started towards the air defense that was shooting the dragons. Luigi charged for the clan castle when a witch and wizards came out! The witch summoned five skeletons and sent them to attack Luigi. A golem charged over and took the wizards' damage for Luigi as he sliced the skeletons into a pile of bones. The witch was about to summon more but then a lava hound that was attacking an air defense with Peach blew up into lava pups, and the pups killed the witch.

Luigi killed all but one of the wizards, but right as he killed the last wizard it killed the golem that had saved him. Luigi, filled with rage, roared, "I am the Barbarian King!" A large burst of energy burned around him and he suddenly increased in strength as five barbarians appeared around him. Luigi charged an enemy mortar and shattered it to bits. In the meantime, Peach had already cleared the air defenses for the dragons and was shooting the dark elixir storage. A group of friendly valkyries came over a destroyed the storage with her but then all of them but one triggered a spring trap and were launched into the sky! Three cannons targeted Peach as she tried to help the one valkyrie and Peach began taking major damage. With her last bit of strength, she yelled, "I am the Archer Queen!" A large burst of energy surrounded her and she became invisible! The valkyrie broke the wall, and Peach charged in undetected and destroyed the three cannons.

Chapter 16

Mario and his group of wizards reached the town hall as four hidden teslas popped out of the ground. The wizard next to Mario exclaimed, "Go end Bowser! We will be alright!" Mario charged into the town hall and found bowser smiling. "What are you so smug about? We've destroyed your base!" Mario yelled somewhat worried. Bowser laughed and said, "Have you? Guess what! I just finished a defense that will change this whole attack!" The sound of troops yelling could be heard and Mario ran outside to see an inferno tower and X-Bow spraying the army down! Mario screamed as he saw his wizard friends get wiped out by the inferno tower. "Mario! We finished the upgrade! We are town hall ten and you are a level six wizard!" The lady said as she charged out of the woods. Mario's hood turned purple and his eyes turned yellow. Mario then zapped the inferno tower to bits in one bolt of lightning! "Peach and Luigi! You are both level forty!" The lady also yelled. Peach and Luigi burst through the walls and destroyed the X-Bow. Then they all entered the town hall. Bowser looked as scared as ever as Mario walked towards him. Bowser waved his hands and yelled, "You win this time, Mario! But the next one is all mine!" A beam of light shined down on him and he was warped into the sky. That was it. The base was destroyed!

The team went back to their base and celebrated. Luigi talked to the golems, Mario talked to the wizards, and Peach talked to the valkyries. They all had a grand feast and partied all night. The next morning Mario walked over to the lady who was standing at the gold storage. "Are you sure you can't stay chief? We need a leader like you. How will we survive without our Archer Queen and Barbarian King?" The lady said sadly. Mario replied, "You don't need us! You are the chief of this village! You have an amazing army and I know you will win every battle. Now listen, we need that fragment." The lady smiled and handed Mario the Golden Mushroom fragment. Peach walked over to Mario and was ready to go but Luigi was missing. Mario ran into the barracks to see Luigi trading toys with the army. "Luigi!" Mario said and stomped his foot. Luigi quickly thanked the troops and stuffed his new toys in his overalls. Luigi hurried over to Mario and said to the army, "Thanks you guys! I'll treasure the toys forever! I won't forget about you!" Mario, Peach, and Luigi grasped hands and a light surrounded them. The army came out and waved the heroes off as they teleported into the sky.

Chapter 17

The heroes blasted out of the vortex and flew all the way back to Delfino Plaza! Mario, Peach, and Luigi crash-landed into the sand next to Toad. Toad jumped up and ran over to them. "Are you guys ok? Did you lose the fragment to Bowser? Why are you guys back so soon?" Toad asked as he helped Luigi and Mario to their feet. Peach angrily looked at Toad as she still sat on the sand. "Hmm? We were gone for a day. We had an epic battle and got the fragment," Luigi said with a confused look on his face. Toad looked shocked and replied, "You guys just left fifteen minutes ago. That is strange. But listen! In those fifteen minutes, Toadsworth figured out where the entrance to the next vortex is! It's in Donkey Kong Country!" Mario looked at F.L.U.D.D. and said, "Are you staying here? I know it's your home and everything, but I'd love for you to come with us!" F.L.U.D.D. replied, "I guess I'll have to come then!" Mario high-fived F.L.U.D.D. and then sprayed Peach in the face with water.

"Alright so let's get on the plane and land in the jungle. This will be easy!" Peach announced as the team waved Delfino Plaza away and entered the plane. Toadsworth came over to Peach and replied, "That won't work. We can't fly through the jungle…It's too dangerous! You all must go by foot or something else." The plane took off and the island began to fade into the distance. Luigi handed Mario a chocolate mushroom and Toad a salted caramel mushroom. As they munched, Luigi played with his new barbarian, archer, golem, P.e.k.k.a., minion, and lava hound figures. Mario stared as Luigi made the figures battle and jump around, but then he saw something out of the window. BOOM! A giant shadow jumped out of the water and crushed the wing of the plane. Luigi stuffed his figures in his overalls as he slammed into the roof, and Toad, Peach, and Mario were thrown around in the plane. The plane nosedived straight for the water and all hope seemed to be lost. Then Luigi spotted three hang gliders in the back of the plane. Luigi, Mario, and Toadsworth quickly grabbed one and jumped out of the plane with Peach holding onto Mario and Toad hanging onto Luigi.

Chapter 18

The team was safe and glided in the air over the seemingly endless sea. Mario then recognized Gooper Blooper from his earlier adventure on Delfino Plaza. It leapt out of the water and slapped the three hang gliders. The hang gliders tore and Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Toadsworth spiraled down towards the ocean. Just before they hit the water, they all bounced off an umbrella and onto a cruise ship's deck! It was Daisy's Cruise! Princess Daisy ran over and helped Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Toadsworth to their feet as Gooper Blooper reached its tentacles over the cruise ship. Daisy ran with the heroes to the front of the ship as the giant blooper followed. Daisy then exclaimed, "It's dark and I'm wearing sunglasses. Hit it!" The cruise then jolted into hyper drive, but the blooper continued to hang on. "Daisy, it's not dark. It's actually sunny," Luigi tried to explain to Daisy as Mario threw beach chairs and umbrellas at the blooper. "Luigi! Get over here and help!" Mario yelled. The blooper lifted Peach in the air and was about to throw her overboard when the ship hit land!

Mario got up and charged at the dazed Gooper Blooper, spraying water all over its face. "It's dark and I'm wearing sunglasses. Hit it!" Mario said as he used F.L.U.D.D. like a baseball bat and launched the blooper into the air. Luigi then tried to explain to Mario what he had said to Daisy but Mario flipped his hair in pride. Peach, Daisy, Toad, and Toadsworth came over to Mario and Luigi and exclaimed, "Well that was a random turn of events. But I guess it worked out perfectly because somehow we crashed only a few miles from the entrance to the jungle. Oh wow look at those perfectly placed holes and limbs on that tree. Look at the hooded guy climb! Yay for perfectly placed grips!" Toadsworth then explained, "I guess I ought to get back to the castle so see ya!" Toadsworth then jumped on a flying green mini person and exclaimed, "It's the flying squash!" Everyone stared in awe and started off to the jungle.

Chapter 19

Daisy walked the team to the jungle entrance and then went off on her own back towards the town. As Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach walked through the jungle, they couldn't help but feel watched, especially with a floating pair of eyes following them the whole way. Then a banana fell from the tree above them and a figure could be seen leaping above them from tree to tree. "Oh my gosh!" Luigi screamed. Everyone quickly stared at Luigi with big eyes to see what he screamed about. "Look at this! It's a banana suit!" Luigi yelled and pointed to a banana suit hanging on the door of a random shack, "Try it on, Peach!" Peach waved her hands but Luigi quickly slipped the suit over her head. Peach shrugged her shoulders and continued, dressed as a banana.

"The vortex entrance is just up ahead! It seems to be on the river where DK's house is!" Mario said as he pointed to the massive vortex ahead. Toad then spotted the small house positioned over the river. The heroes ran up to the house and began knocking on the door. "Is anyone home? We need a way upstream to that vortex!" Mario yelled as a loud crash sounded behind them. It was Donkey Kong and he was staring at Peach with drool running down his chin. Peach then realized that she was still in the banana suit and she began running as DK chased her. Mario and Luigi tried to stop him but he shoved them off and grabbed Peach. He was about to eat her when Mario jumped on his head. DK turned to look at Mario and then charged up his punch and blasted Toad and Luigi into the vortex. Mario ran over, grabbed DK who was holding Peach, and used F.L.U.D.D. to jetpack them into the vortex.

Chapter 20

Luigi woke up only to find himself in a small town. It was a peaceful place and people were all walking around happily. Luigi pulled himself to his feet and noticed he had lost the others, so he began looking frantically through the town. "Hello. Welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center! Would you like for me to heal your pokemon?" A kind lady said from behind the counter as Luigi looked around in the building. "Uhh…Where am I? Have you seen another guy that looks like me but is dressed in red or a princess or a mushroom dude?" Luigi asked. The lady replied, "I'm Nurse Joy. This is Viridian City! No, I haven't seen any of your odd friends but here take these pokeballs. You seem like you're going to need them since you don't know anything about where you are. Mario opened his eyes to see a luscious forest. He got up from the ground and scanned his surroundings. Then his foot slipped and he fell into the tall grass.

Battle music and flashing light boomed around him and a small hyena appeared across from him. "A wild Poochyena appeared!" The words boomed over Mario's head and hit him across the face. He got up, ate a fire flower, and was about to blast him when the words, "There's a time and place for everything, but not now," sounded in his ear. Mario shrugged and ran from the small hyena out of the forest. Luigi then walked out of the Pokemon Center and walked over to a boy in red. "How do you use these things?" Luigi said as he showed the boy a pokeball. The boy then grabbed Luigi and brought him into a house where a man in a lab coat was standing. The boy then ran away. Luigi walked cautiously over to the man and was about to speak to him when the man yelled, "Welcome back!" A mysterious portal appeared behind Luigi and a boy in a yellow vehicle ran him over. The man then ran over to Luigi and yelled, "I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" Luigi got up and asked the man how he looked. The man tried to hide the sheer horror on his face as he looked at Luigi's battered and gashed in face. The man gave Luigi and thumbs-up and said, "You look fine. I'm Professor Oak. In repayment for you getting ran over, I'll give you one of my pokemon. Which one do you want? I have a Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur."

Chapter 21

Luigi accepted Bulbasaur and thanked the professor. Luigi remembered how to use a pokeball from the Super Smash Bros tournaments and such, so he sent out his new partner. "Hi Bulbasaur! I'm Luigi. I like you because you're green like me! Let's go find the others, alright?" Luigi said to his new partner. Bulbasaur happily jumped up and down and nudged its head against Luigi's leg. Luigi scooped up his new buddy in his arms and walked outside. "Hah, is that your Bulbasaur? Wow, Luigi, we haven't seen each other since Super Smash Bros Brawl!" Pokemon Trainer came up with his Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard behind him, "Your little baby wouldn't stand a chance against me. Yeah now that I'm Pokemon Master of the World, no one can beat me." Luigi gave Pokemon Trainer a questioning look and Pokemon Trainer quickly replied, "Oh yeah I go by PT now but you don't believe my title? Look at this championship belt!" Luigi then noticed that the belt had the Golden Mushroom fragment in the middle of it, so Luigi attempted flattery to get it, "Oh wow! You're the best! That's an awesome belt, so it makes since that the wielder is also awesome! Can I try it on?" PT then responded, "Ha! Nice try but the belt is mine! But! If you win against me in a pokemon battle then I'll be forced to give it to you!"

Luigi's mission was clear. He had to defeat PT in a battle, so Luigi flipped his hair and announced, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" PT accepted and the surroundings faded, and he and PT were across from each other with a battleground in between them. The battle began as Luigi sent out Bulbasaur from his pokeball and PT sent out Squirtle. Luigi yelled, "Use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur slapped Squirtle across the face with a vine and then PT yelled, "Use Surf!" Squirtle summoned a wave and he surfed it over Bulbasaur. Luigi then yelled, "Use Bullet Seed!" Bulbasaur hit Squirtle with five shots of seeds, and Squirtle fainted! Luigi ran over and hugged Bulbasaur and hopped up and down. "You didn't win. I still have two pokemon left," PT said as he sent out Ivysaur. Ivysaur sliced Bulbasaur with a blade of grass and that was it! Bulbasaur fainted. Mario grabbed Bulbasaur and healed him at the Pokemon Center. As he came out, Luigi walked over to Mario and said, "Thanks for healing Bulbasaur, but how did you get here?" Mario's eyes enlarged and he warped away.

Chapter 22

Toad tumbled out of the cave and fell face down on the ground. He opened his eyes and looked back at the cave to see a swarm of Zubats coming toward him. As he scrambled to his feet, a green Zubat dived down at him and bit his shirt. Toad tried to run but the green Zubat kept following and biting him until it had Toad cornered. It then opened its mouth and shot a beam of energy right at his head. Toad covered his eyes with his hands, knowing he was finished, but then he heard a voice yell, "Pickachu, use thunderbolt and deflect that Hyper Beam!" A bolt of electricity bounced the beam away and Toad scurried towards the voice. A boy stood dressed in jeans, a shirt, a blue jacket, green gloves, and a red hat with a yellow rat on his shoulder. "Name's Ash! This is my buddy, Pickachu. What's your name? Why were you being attacked by that Zubat?" The boy asked Toad. Toad replied, "I'm Toad. I woke up in that cave and I don't know where my friends are. I accidentally stumbled into their den and they chased me the whole way through the cave." Then the rest of the Zubats swooped down and attacked Toad and Ash. Ash ran to the left and Toad ran to the left and hid behind a Pecha Berry bush.

"Oh wow! Pecha Berries! I bet there has to be some pokemon nearby!" Luigi yelled as he walked over to the bush and began viciously eating the berries. Toad then realized he was next to some berries so he began munching on some and then he dropped one. It rolled a little bit away from him so he stood up and snatched the berry. Luigi quickly spotted a white and red blob pop up from behind the berry so he swiftly pulled out a pokeball. Luigi got in pitching position and threw it right as Toad saw Luigi. Toad popped up and yelled, "Luigi! Wait no! Don't throw that! It's me, Toad! AHHHH!" Toad was sucked into the pokeball and it began to roll. One roll…two rolls…Luigi stood in anticipation as the ball rolled a third time and Toad was caught! Luigi leapt up into the air and yelled, "I caught a Toad!"

Chapter 23

In the meantime, Mario continued down the path to the city. Mario whistled as he walked and then heard commotion ahead. Mario sprinted forward to find Ash on the ground. "Are you alright? Who are you?" Mario asked as he helped Ash to his feet. Ash replied, "Thank you! I'm ok. I'm Ash and this is my buddy, Pickachu." Mario then answered back, "Uhh…That's your "buddy"? I think it has rabies!" Ash looked at Pickachu to see it had red eyes and it was foaming at the mouth. "Oh must have been the Zubats…," Ash replied as he put Pickachu in a sack, "I'm headed to Virdian City if you want to travel with me." Mario agreed and the two entered the vast city. "Heal Pickachu, please," Ash said as he walked into the Pokemon Center with Mario. Nurse Joy looked at the rabid rat and replied, "We can't heal that. I think you should release it." Ash threw the sack at Nurse Joy and replied, "Nonsense! You can heal it." Pickachu jumped from the sack onto Nurse Joy's face and she fell through the doors to another room. Screaming could be heard from the back room as Ash sat down with Mario at the table. "So where are you from? I'm from Pallet Town," Ash asked as Mario listened to the screaming in horror. "I'm from the Mushroom Kingdom! I came here with my brother…LUIGI!" Mario screamed as Luigi walked in.

Luigi quickly hugged Mario and explained the situation with PT. Mario sat in thought for a moment and replied, "Well this is a predicament. The situation went from terrible to horrible!" Ash stood up and took cured Pickachu from Nurse Joy whose clothes were torn to shreds and said, "You can borrow my level one hundred Pickachu!" Luigi thanked Ash and accepted Pickachu. Luigi walked outside with his three new pokemon and found PT leaned against a building, trying to be cool. "So you found three pokemon, huh? Alright, I challenge you to a battle!" The battlefield appeared and Luigi sent out Bulbasaur as PT sent out Squirtle. Luigi yelled, "Use Bullet Seed!" Bulbasaur spit four rounds of seeds at Squirtle and then Squirtle surfed over Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur then grabbed Squirtle with a vine and slapped him with another. Squirtle fainted. Next, PT sent out Ivysaur, and yelled, "Use Solar Beam!" Ivysaur absorbed sunlight and then blasted Bulbasaur into the ground. Bulbasaur fainted, so Luigi sent out Toad.

Chapter 24

"Toad, use mushroom blast!" Luigi yelled. Toad charged forward spinning like a missile and exploded into Ivysaur. A mushroom cloud appeared overhead. Toad then tackled Ivysaur as Ivysaur sliced him with a blade of grass. Luigi then yelled, "Use Fungus Frenzy!" Toad punched the ground and massive mushrooms blasted Ivysaur into the air. Ivysaur shot one leaf at Toad before it hit the ground, and as he hit the ground and fainted, the leaf made Toad faint. PT and Luigi sent out their finally pokemon which were Pickachu and Charizard. Luigi yelled, "Use Iron Tail!" Pickachu leapt into the air and swung its tail at the beast, but Charizard dodged and blasted Pickachu with gust of fire. Pickachu then shot a lightning bolt at Charizard but it dodged again. PT raised his wrist into the air and clicked a gem on a bracelet that he had on his wrist. Charizard began glowing and then his arms and head became spiky and his wings increased in size. "Meet Mega Charizard Y!" PT roared. Mega Charizard flew down and grabbed Pickachu. It lifted Pikachu into the air and then threw him straight for the ground.

Suddenly, a gigantic shadow swooped down and saved Pikachu! It was Zapdos! Zapdos cloaked itself in electricity and rammed Mega Charizard into the ground. Mega Charizard stumbled to its feet and flew straight at Zapdos. PT screamed, "Use Blast Burn!" Mega Charizard unleashed an explosion of fire on Zapdos, but when the fire cleared, Zapdos flew down and slammed Mega Charizard to the ground. Charizard fainted. Luigi had won! Luigi went nuts and started dancing like a madman. He walked over to PT who was just sitting there with his mouth open and said, "Listen PT…You still are the best…Psych! Haha! You lost! I won! Give me the belt loser!" PT handed Luigi the belt and curled up into a ball and started chanting, "Future," as he rocked back in forth on the ground. Luigi gave Pickachu back to Ash and looked up at Zapdos. Zapdos stared at him for a moment and then flew off into the sunset as Luigi thanked it.

Chapter 25

Luigi danced up and down with Mario as Ash released Toad by breaking the pokeball. Professor Oak came over to Luigi and said, "You know no one actually crowned PT Pokemon Master of the World. He found that thing and put it on a belt and called himself that. But anyways, I wanted to say that I want you to keep Bulbasaur. He's yours now! I can tell he wants to stay with you." Luigi then replied, "Thank you Professor Oak!" Ash waved "bye" to the team and left with Pickachu on his shoulder. Mario, Luigi, and Toad were about to grip hands to leave when Mario blurted out, "Wait! Where's Peach and DK?" Bowser burst through the Pokemon Center's roof, holding Peach and DK. "GWAHAHA! You want the princess and the monkey back? You have to give me the fragment!" Bowser laughed. Mario, Luigi, and Toad shrugged their shoulders and were about to warp out when Bowser yelled, "If you don't, you will just have to save her later!" Mario then pulled out the fragment and walked over to Bowser.

"You can keep the monkey," Mario said as he traded Peach for the Golden Mushroom fragment. Bowser then tossed DK into a dumpster and teleported out. The team warped out behind him and crashed onto DK's house. Mario rubbed his head as he jumped from the roof onto the ground. Luigi, Toad, and Peach all jumped down after Mario and the team began looking for the next vortex. "Hmm…Looks like there is a vortex not too far away!" Peach said as she pointed at a vortex. "Peach! Why did you take off the banana suit?" Luigi yelled at Peach. Peach's eye began twitching and she started to turn red in the face. "Wait! I know a way to get to that vortex faster! Okay so there is a snow gear rental shop nearby!" Toad announced. Everyone gave Toad a weird look and said, "WE ARE IN A JUNGLE! How will that help us?" Toad rolled his eyes and replied, "Well excuse me if I'm the only guy who remembers the Mario versus Sonic: The Winter Olympic Games!" The team then agreed to go to the rental shop and followed Toad there.

Chapter 26

Toad walked through the jungle, slicing vines with his machete like an explorer, and the other heroes followed behind. Luigi spotted a girl with a bow and arrow who was running with a boy from a large group of mutated mutts. She whistled a tune and yelled, "I am Katniss Everdeen and I am the Mockingjay!" The boy tripped her and kept running as she was dragged away by the mutts. He exclaimed, "I am Peeta and I am tired of these movies!" Peach grabbed Luigi's arm and pulled him forward which made him look away from the boy. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad finally escaped the jungle and fell onto the ground, cheering and happy. Toad got up and saw the rental shop over on the hill across from them. Boom! A giant explosion blew up the ground next to Mario. Mario was thrown onto the ground as Bowser lowered to the ground in his airship. "What's up chumps? Guess who's going to reach the next vortex before you!" Bowser yelled.

The airship fired two Bullet Bills which exploded next to Peach and Luigi. Next, Bowser threw Bomb-ombs at Toad. Toad dived forward, grabbed the bomb, and threw it back at the airship. The bomb hit the side of the airship, and the airship began spinning out of control. Bowser flew out of his airship and crashed on top of the rental shop. He was knocked out, so the team speedily ran into the rental shop. "I'll take the snowboard!" Luigi said as the cashier handed him the snowboard. "How are we going to use these if there is no snow?" Peach angrily asked Toad as she put on her ski shoes. Toad winked at the cashier and the cashier went to the back and came out with four guns. "You see, Peach, the cashier and I go way back! These snow guns make an icy snow path for us to ride on! No matter the climate, these always work so we can reach the vortex in no time!" Toad explained as the heroes went outside. Toad got in his skis, Mario got on his snowboard, Luigi got on his snowboard, and Peach got in her skis.

Chapter 27

They all activated their guns and began skiing and snowboarding through the woods on their icy trail. "What about Bowser? Couldn't he just rent snow gear and follow our…," Luigi said as Bowser appeared behind them on a snowboard. "Gwahah! You thought you could escape me?" Bowser said as Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends snowboarded up behind them. "Let's do this! Mario versus Sonic: The Summer Olympic Games! First event is land-boarding!" Sonic yelled as his friends flew ahead of Mario and his friends. "Wait? How did they fly ahead of us? We have the snow guns…?" Luigi confusedly said as Sonic face-planted into the dirt. Mario then did a ski jump off of Sonic's back and flew into the trees. Bowser snowboarded up to Luigi and tried to steal his snow gun, but Luigi quickly maneuvered between the trees with Bowser right behind.

Mario slid across the icy trees and the snow on the trees began to fall down close to the others. Bowser spit fire and barely missed Peach's left ski. But then, a blob of snow fell from the tree above her and disconnected her right ski. Peach struggled to recover and got her second foot on the left ski. She then got back in control and back in line. Bowser grabbed Toad's pole and began sword-dueling Toad. Toad ducked as Bowser swiped the pole over his head, but then Toad dropped his snow gun! Bowser just barely missed the chance to grab it, and he went off the icy trail and crashed into a tree. Mario jumped off of the trees and landed back with the others. "Look! The vortex is just up ahead!" Toad said as the team ramped a rock into the air. As they landed on the ground, Mario had an idea! He used F.L.U.D.D. to spray a large water trail that went the wrong way. Peach then froze the trail and the team took off their gear. Luigi gasped as he saw where the vortex entrance was. It was in Luigi's Mansion!

Chapter 28

Luigi started to walk back sheepishly but Mario grabbed his arm and dragged him to the mansion's entrance. Luigi looked around at the dead trees and crows as he walked towards the door. Toad reached the door first and cautiously opened the door. Immediately, an eerie feel swept through each of the heroes. Peach shuttered and grabbed onto Mario's arm. Mario spotted the curtain move and he soaked it with water. "Why did you do that? Now I'm all wet! Stupid water ghost!" A voice said as the curtain flew to the side. A vacuum started sucking Peach's hair up, but everyone just watched and laughed. "OH! Sorry about that pretty lady! You should leave this place because it's haunted. So yeah you should…LUIGI!" Professor E. Gadd said as he put the vacuum on the ground. He forgot to turn it off so it continued to suck Peach's hair up. "Nice to see you, Professor E. Gadd!" Luigi said as he walked over to the old man.

The professor handed Luigi a flashlight and the Poultergust 5000 which had Peach's legs flailing out of it. Luigi set the Poultergust to "spit" and Peach was launched out. Luigi switched it back to "suck" and the professor explained, "You see, the mansion suddenly appeared again when an inter-dimensional vortex suddenly appeared. I think the two may be connected! However, the only way to reach the vortex is to go all the way to the roof." Mario gulped and asked, "Professor, is there a shortcut to the roof?" Gadd replied, "Nope! You will have to clear every room all over again! Just kidding my boy! Luigi already cleared the place of the main ghosts here when he was saving you! I'll talk you through the mansion with this!" Gadd handed Mario the Game Boy Horror. Gadd then ran off to his base as Mario and the team started through the mansion.

Chapter 29

"Can you hear me?" Gadd said as Mario opened the main door. As they walked into the dark hall, the door shut behind them and thorns appeared on it. "Yes, we can. Where do we go?" Toad said as his lips quivered. "GUYS!" Luigi yelled. Everyone quickly looked for Luigi but couldn't find him. "Gadd! Luigi's…AHHHHHH!" Toad screamed as Luigi jumped out from around the corner, wearing a mask. Luigi burst into laughter and yelled, "Gotcha! For once, I'm not the scaredy-cat! Haha! This is my mansion. Ghosts should be scared of me!" Gadd then responded, "Ok. So go down the hall and take a left. Then go to the end of that hall and take a right." The team followed the instructions and were at the "take a right" part when a ghost leapt from the ceiling and grabbed Peach. Luigi shined his flashlight on the ghost, Mario soaked it, and Luigi sucked it up. Peach fell from the roof and continued to follow the others.

The heroes found themselves outside in the garden. Luigi went down the familiar well and saw King Boo and someone in the painting behind it. It was Link! Mario climbed down and laughed at Link, "Haha! You tried to compete with us all these years…No way we are saving you!" Gadd then called in on the Game Boy Horror, "Go to the end of the garden and go into the workout room. Go outside of the room and go down the hall then take a left. Go up the stairs and then go down that hall and finally take the stairs on the right to the roof." Peach led the team into the workout room when a ghost smacked Toad. Luigi used his flashlight on it and sucked it up within a few seconds. Then a large blue ghost burst out of the floorboards and began chasing the team through the hall. Peach was the last one up the first set of stairs when Mario light the chandelier and dropped it on the ghost's head. The light weakened it and Luigi sucked it up. The team then reached the stairs to the roof.

Chapter 30

As Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad walked up the stairs to the roof, a cold breeze swept across them. Toad started shivering and Peach's teeth began to chatter. Luigi reached his shaking hand to the doorknob, and then he calmly placed his hand on it and opened the door. "HEHEHE!" A voice said as the heroes walked out onto the roof. It was a circle of Boos! They disappeared and then appeared in a circle around the team. Luigi pulled out his Poultergust 5000 and was ready to suck them up. Peach started singing as Mario and Luigi tried to soak and vacuum the Boos, "When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!" Toad got a candle and threw it at the last Boo which weakened it and then Luigi sucked it up. They were safe! Right as the heroes were about to enter the vortex, Bowser snowboarded into the vortex as he laughed, "I went back and got Toad's snow gun! See you later, chumps!" Then the team ran in right behind him.

Mario got up from the grass and noticed Luigi, Peach, and Toad on the ground next to him. Mario walked over and helped Luigi and Toad up, and then a man walked over to him and began dancing. Mario stared and then started looking around. They were on some sort of tower above a city and a giant planet-looking thing was over the city. "What's that? Where are we?" Luigi asked. A wolf dressed as a grandma then announced, "Are we just gonna set around and talk about how big Grandma's getting?" The wolf then vanished. "Hello there Guardians!" A strange man in white with a white mask on his face came over, "I'm The Speaker and I'm the voice of the Traveler. You are?" Mario replied for the team, "I'm Mario. He's Toad. That's my brother, Luigi. She's Peach. Nice to meet you!"

Chapter 31

"So have you chosen your class yet? Are you a Hunter, Titan, or Warlock?" The Speaker asked as everyone looked at each other, "Have you not chosen yet? Here let me explain each class. Hunters are experts of stealth and precision! Warlocks can manipulate the world around them and the universe bends to their will. Lastly, Titans use brute force and strength to annihilate their foes." Everyone thought about it for a minute and then made their choices. Mario and Luigi chose to be Warlocks, Peach chose to be a Hunter, and Toad chose to be a Titan. "Very good. Now go to the Titan Vanguard, Hunter Vanguard, and Warlock Vanguard," The Speaker said and the team went to each of their Vanguards. Mario and Luigi walked over to their Vanguard and she began to talk, "I'm going to be your Vanguard. So you will first need the power of a Warlock. Here is your armor, Ghost, and YOUR POWER!" She handed the brother armor, a small little spiky machine, and then she hit them with a purple force.

"WAHH!" Luigi and Mario then began shaking. Mario then made a purple ball of energy appear in his hand. Luigi did the same and they realized that they had become Warlocks! Peach and Toad walked over in their armor and showed off their Ghosts and powers. "Your Ghost will be your partner. It will help you along your journey. It will be your trusty partner," The Speaker said as he came over to the heroes and activated the Ghosts. "Hello Mario. I am a Ghost, actually I am your Ghost. I will help you along your journey. The Speaker showed the team through the Tower and down to the ships. He showed each of them to their individual ships. Peach went over to her ship, the Crypt Hammer, Toad went over to his ship, the Eon Trespass, Mario went over to his ship, the NS66 Cloud Errant, and Luigi went over to his ship, the Kestrel Class AX. The Speaker then explained about the Fallen, a race of evil aliens that are taking over the planets along with the Darkness and that the Guardians must defeat them.

Chapter 32

The heroes had some time to kill so they just walked around the Tower to get familiar with the place. A group of Guardians spawned in, so Luigi went over and started dancing with them. Mario found a soccer ball and began kicking it around with Toad. Peach found a floating purple ball, so she tried to jump and hit it but ended up falling off the Tower. Her Ghost warped her back up next to Luigi and she looked embarrassed. Mario then jumped on top of a building and sat down on top of a fan. Toad went upstairs to a balcony and found something that said, "Press X to activate fan." Toad poorly scribbled an "X" on the ground and pressed it. Mario was launched into the air onto a flag. The team saw a crowd gathered around a closed door and so they joined them. "What's going on?" Mario asked a Hunter. The Hunter replied, "The Iron Banner event is about to start and we are just waiting for the door to open. Suddenly, the door opened and the crowd ran in like a pack of angry gorillas. The Speaker came over and announced, "It's time."

Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad got in their ships and flew down to the Cosmodrome in Old Russia on Earth. The team landed and The Speaker messaged them, "Listen, we have report of a mysteriously strong Devil Archon on Earth. We believe it is stationed past the Sky Watch, so you all need to get on your Sparrows." All four Ghosts came out and spawned the heroes on futuristic hovering vehicles. Mario raised his fist and yelled, "LET'S DO THIS THING!" The heroes jolted off and headed to their destination. A bullet whizzed past Mario's Sparrow and then an alien jumped onto Peach's Sparrow. She screamed, pulled out her Auto-Rifle, and began shooting at it as she tried to navigate through the terrain. Out of nowhere, a group of smaller aliens charged at the team. They used their knives to slice Mario, Luigi, and Toad off as Peach crashed into a rock. Suddenly, a massive ship appeared overhead and dropped a wave of enemies around the team. They were outnumbered!

Chapter 33

Mario pulled out his hand cannon and shot at the smaller aliens, but for every one he killed, six more appeared. A giant purple eyeball started shooting at Luigi as he tried to kill some of the enemies with an energy grenade. Toad punched the bigger aliens as they got closer while Peach threw knives at the eyeball. Suddenly, Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach felt a surge of energy and the words, "Super Charged!" appeared. Mario and Luigi leapt into the air and shot a massive bomb of purple energy which disintegrated a chunk of the aliens while Peach summoned a flaming pistol and shot and killed three enemies with one shot each. Toad slammed the ground and a sonic wave ended the rest of the enemies. The team then got back on their Sparrows and continued towards the Sky Watch.

As they reached the entrance, they got off their vehicles and continued on foot. But as they walked, it became darker. Eventually, their Ghosts came out and shined a light for them, but they couldn't help but feel watched. A machine creaked and Peach sprayed madly at it. Hundreds of eyes appeared and a storm of bullets flew for the heroes. "Acolytes! It's the Hive!" The Speaker yelled through the communication device. Mario threw a fusion grenade at the Acolytes, but it was useless! They were too strong! An Acolyte grabbed Toad's Ghost and crushed it in its hand. It then threw the Dead Ghost into the darkness. Toad screamed and ran into the darkness after his little buddy as Mario yelled, "Toad! It's not worth it! We'll find your Ghost later!" A rocket flew past Peach's head and an explosion of Acolytes flew everywhere. A flaming man could be seen walking towards Mario and Mario gulped.

Chapter 34

The man shot as Mario closed his eyes, but actually the bullet hit an Acolyte that was about to shoot Mario! "It's me, The Speaker!" The man said as Luigi, Mario, and Peach gathered around him. "What are you doing here? We could've handled it!" Peach said as Mario and Luigi angrily stared at her. "You aren't strong enough…I shouldn't have put you in danger…," The Speaker apologized, "Let me help Toad find his Ghost." The Speaker walked over to Toad who was looking everywhere for his Ghost and pointed on top of a machine. There it was! Toad grabbed his Ghost and revived it after thanking The Speaker. "I will take you four back to the Tower," He said as the team continued on ahead of him. He slapped his knee and said, "Call me Joe!" He then joined the team at another firefight, and he pulled out a purple gun and annihilated the Chosen Wizard. Toad bashed the group and killed the six Acolytes as Luigi shot his Nova Bomb at a Captain. Mario jumped on top of the roof of a shack and spotted a golden chest in the back. The whole team joined him and collected the loot. Everyone got a rare Nemesis Plane IV helmet.

Finally, they made it through Sky Watch! "Phew! We are out!" Toad said as he kissed the grass. BOOM! A massive explosion could be seen up the hill. Mario led the charge up the hill and they all saw the Devil Archon. It was Bowser! "GWAHAHA! You are too late. I've got this fragment too! See ya later! Bowser said as he began to warp out. The Speaker drew out a yellow sniper rifle and shot Bowser's leg. Bowser slammed onto the ground and got up furious. "HOW DARE YOU! Actually before I leave, I'm going to kill your friend!" Bowser yelled as he pulled out a giant rifle, put on armor, and shot The Speaker through the chest. "NO!" Mario yelled as he grabbed The Speaker's hand, "You are going to be alright! I promise! Ghost, take us to orbit now!" The Speaker grabbed Mario's Ghost and stopped it from warping them out. "No…You must kill the Devil Archon! If he lives…If…He…He will destroy the world! You are all legends. Now fulfill your destiny and kill him!" The Speaker said as he propped himself against a rock. Mario was filled with rage against Bowser and sprinted for him at full speed.

Chapter 35

Bowser shot at Mario as he sprinted to him but every shot missed. Mario leapt into the air and shot his Nova Bomb at Bowser which caused Bowser to fall back into a tree. A group of Dregs and Vandals appeared around Bowser and began to shoot at Mario, but Luigi, Toad, and Peach began to fight back against them. "We'll handle the little guys! You kill Bowser!" Peach said as she killed three enemies with her flaming pistol. Mario dodged Bowser's melee and slid between his legs. Then Mario jumped onto Bowser's back which wasn't spiky due to the armor and stuck a fusion grenade to him. Boom! Bowser fell forward onto the ground, but then he jumped up and shot Mario in the arm, causing him to throw his Auto-Rifle! Bowser lifted Mario into the air by his throat and was about to crush him when a bullet hit Bowser straight threw the side of his neck. The two of them both hit the ground and there was silence.

"Where did that bullet come from?" Toad whispered as The Speaker stood up. The Speaker put up his sniper rifle and helped Mario to his feet. "Uggghhh…," Bowser groaned as Mario picked up the Golden Mushroom fragment. As Mario reached for the one from the vortex of Pokemon, Bowser warped out of the vortex with that fragment in his hand. "Thank you. You saved me. Let's go back to the Tower!" Mario said to The Speaker as the five Ghosts teleported them to their ships. The team flew to the Tower and patched Mario and The Speaker up. "Apparently, Bowser's shot only hit the side of my chest. He doesn't have good aim. But anyways, I want you four to have these," The Speaker said as he handed each of them four Legendary Engrams. The team went to the Cryptarch and received a full set of Legendary armor each!

Chapter 36

They thanked The Speaker and told him about the whole situation with the Golden Mushroom. "Oh so you must go…I wish you the best of luck! Defeat Bowser, Guardians! It is your destiny. Oh and keep your Ghosts. They belong to you now," The Speaker said and continued on, "Your Ghosts will not be active in your world but keep them to remember us. Become legend." The heroes all nodded and then grabbed hands. The light began to surround them and then they were gone. "AHH!" Peach yelled as she flew out of the vortex and fell onto the ground. All the heroes joined her, and a voice yelled, "This is Professor E. Gadd! Answer me! Where are you?" Luigi answered back as he stood up, "We're back. We got the fragment! Where's the mansion?"

Gadd replied, "Good. You guys didn't answer for like ten minutes, so I thought the worse! The mansion seems to have vanished, but what fragment are you talking about?" Luigi said, "Never mind. We've got to go so come over to the mansion as fast as you can, so I can give you your stuff." The sound of someone viciously running could be heard and then Gadd arrived a few seconds later. Luigi gave Gadd the Poultergust 5000, his flashlight, and the Game Boy Horror. The team waved "bye" to Gadd and began looking for the next vortex. Peach jumped on Toad's head into the air and spotted a vortex in the distance. "It seems like there is a vortex on…Yoshi's Island!" Peach announced. Luigi then yelled, "It's going to take forever to get there! That's over four hundred miles away! On foot, that will take a good month!" Mario walked over to Luigi, Toad, and Peach who were arguing and said, "I know an easy way to get there. The Kart Tournament 2021! We can enter it and drive there! One of the racetracks is on Yoshi's Island!"

Chapter 37

The heroes all agreed to enter the tournament and started off towards the registration point. "Ok so to register we need to reach Mushroom Town. We'll be there in about thirty minutes!" Mario said as he looked at a pamphlet that he pulled out of his overalls. Luigi was close behind but was playing with his stuff that he had gotten over the journey. Pow! Bam! Luigi made some awesome sound effects as he made his Ghost ram into a Barbarian that was on Bulbasaur's back. Mario looked at his wizard robe and Legendary armor and smiled as Peach rode on Toad's head. The heroes saw the town gates of Mushroom Town and sprinted towards the gatekeeper. The gate Toad let the team in as the sun set for the night. The team agreed to rent two rooms at the inn so they slept there until morning.

Mario, Luigi, and Toad came out of their room and Peach came out of hers. "Let's go sign up!" Peach said as she finished her breakfast. Mario dumped the rest of his tray in the garbage and then he stopped. He sniffed heavily and yelled, "Strawberries!" Everyone gave him a confused look as he continued as though nothing had happened. The heroes walked over to the registration center and began talking to the sign-up committee, "We would like to sign up. I'm Peach and that's Mario, Toad, and Luigi." The Goomba stared at Peach and then wrote down their names on the list. Luigi then asked, "Wait. How do you write if you don't have arms or hands?" The Goomba's eyes grew large and then it exploded as a Koopa showed the heroes to their Karts.

Chapter 38

Mario and Luigi got on one while Peach and Toad got on the other. Mario said as the race began, "It's pretty crazy that the race was starting today just when we needed it to!" Luigi began to respond but the Lakitu began counting down, "3…2…1…GO!" Mario and Luigi sped forward with Peach and Toad right behind. Wario and Waluigi rammed Toad and Peach into a banana peel and then started bumping into Mario and Luigi. Mario and Luigi switched to where Luigi was driving and Mario was in charge of items, so Wario and Waluigi did the same. Mario punched Wario in the face as Wario got a mushroom. Wario flew forward but Mario got a red shell! Mario threw the shell and hit Wario and Waluigi's Kart. They spun into a house and Mario took the wheel. Next, Princess Daisy and Toadette came up to Peach and Toad.

Toadette threw a green shell and hit Toad off the back of the Kart. Toad grabbed onto the back and was pulled like a ragdoll. Peach threw her star that she just got from a mystery item to Toad as he hopped back up onto the back. Toad crushed it in his hand and the Kart started glowing like a rainbow. Peach rammed into Daisy and Toadette which blasted them back. Mario and Luigi slid around a banana peel, and then Wario jumped from his Kart onto Mario. Waluigi took the wheel as Luigi jumped from his Kart onto him. Mario punched Wario in his nose as Luigi choked Waluigi. Waluigi crashed into Peach and Luigi jumped back onto Wario. Mario and Luigi threw Wario back onto Waluigi and they continued on ahead. Toad and Peach finally caught back up to Mario and Luigi and yelled to each other, "So we've made it past Mushroom Gorge and now we are on our way to Sunshine Airport which will take us to Yoshi's Island!"

Chapter 39

The team kept in first and second place while keeping the other racers off their backs. As they reached the airport, Daisy and Toadette knocked into the back of Toad and Peach. Mario screamed, "Daisy! Why are you even trying to beat us? If we don't get the Golden Mushroom fragment, it will affect you too!" Daisy sheepishly smiled and Toad threw a fake mystery item back onto them. Their Kart crashed and they were out of the race. Mario threw a Bomb-omb back onto Wario and Waluigi, and they were out of the race. The heroes ramped onto an airplane and flew out of the airport with the competition right behind. Diddy Kong threw three bananas into the air towards Mario and Luigi but they luckily missed. Trixie Kong yelled, Diddy Kong, do the monkey!" Diddy Kong screeched as the team landed down on Yoshi's Island.

The heroes landed on the island and as the competition flew by, they began looking for the entrance to the vortex. They parked their Karts and looked around the island. Hundreds of Yoshi's were everywhere on the island. "Do you where the entrance to that giant vortex is?" Mario asked a blue Yoshi as Luigi asked a yellow Yoshi. Suddenly, the familiar green Yoshi ran over! "Yoshi! It's been so long!" Peach said as she hugged Yoshi. Yoshi asked as he hugged Peach, "It's good to see you too! What's going on? Why are you guys here?" Toad explained everything to Yoshi. Yoshi quickly responded, "Oh wow. I help you! The entrance is just up over that hill! I saw it yesterday when I was on a walk." The heroes quickly started running towards the hill.

Chapter 40

They reached the hill and spotted the vortex's entrance! Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach ran into the vortex and Yoshi sat as a guard to make sure Bowser didn't come. "AAHHHH!" Mario screamed as he landed on the grass. He got up to notice that the grass was sectioned off into blocks, and Mario screamed as Luigi came over, "LUIGI! What's wrong with you? Why are you a block-man?" Luigi screamed back at Mario, "Why are you a block-man? What's going on, Mario?" Peach and Toad did the same thing as they came over, so then the team began to look around. Luigi spotted a pig so he went over and began to pet it.

Out of nowhere, a block-man ran over and saddled it, and then he got on it with a carrot on a stick. He rode the pig off towards a small wooden shack in the distance, and since the heroes didn't know where to go, they followed him. He went into the shack and the heroes went over to the door. Luigi began punching the door which made it crack, and then the block-man slung open the door. An arrow whizzed past Luigi's ear and then the man put a blue sword to Luigi's neck. "Who are you? Are you a Zombie? Get lost! I don't want to be up at night so hit the road so you don't attract mobs!" The block-man yelled and shoved Luigi onto the dirt. Mario yelled as the man began to shut the door, "Hey! Who do you think you are, shoving my brother?" The man slung back open the door and yelled back at Mario, "I'm Steve! I'm the only person who can survive on hard difficulty and thrive! You are just some noob!" Mario punched the ground in rage and the dirt beneath him broke, dropping him into a dark cave.

Chapter 41

Mario landed on a ledge over a pool of lava and he spotted the rock beneath him shaking. Mario tried to get up but his arm was pinned under a block of dirt! Mario pried the dirt block off his hand right as he fell, but suddenly, a hand grabbed his. Mario looked down at the lava pool below him and then up at Steve who began pulling him up. "Why do you have a pool of lava beneath your house?" Mario asked Steve as he sipped the milk bucket. Steve replied, "Well I didn't know where it was but when I built my house I heard the lava. I couldn't find it so I just ignored it but I guess it is kind of a safety hazard…" Luigi stood up from the wooden chair and asked Steve, "So what's going on? What is this place? What do we do here?" Steve smiled and as he looked through his chest in the kitchen, he replied, "Well this is Minecraft! Basically, you mine and craft stuff. It's pretty easy! But first, let me make you guys some beds." Steve pulled out twelve blocks of wool, twelve blocks of wooden planks, and walked over to a crafting table. Steve made four beds and the heroes went to sleep.

Peach opened her eyes as she heard a faint groaning noise outside the door. She got out of her bed and went to investigate. As she opened the door, a figure started walking towards her and she dumbly walked towards it too. "Hello? Why are you outside this late at night? You should…AHHH!" Peach said when suddenly the figure leapt on top of her. It was a green man that looked a lot like Steve except its eyes were black and it looked hungry. Peach shoved the man's arms back as it tried to smack her on the face. An arrow went straight through the man's head and it fell over and disappeared. "Why are you out here? You're just trying to get killed! That Zombie could've easily ended you and we wouldn't have known! Go to bed," Steve said as he put up his bow and arrows. Peach jumped into bed and the heroes woke up right as the sun began to peep over the horizon.

Chapter 42

As the team sat on the couch in the den, Steve began to explain about where they were, "So Minecraft can have different difficulties. We are on hard. The hardest difficulty, so we need to treat it as such! There are a variety of enemies called mobs. You guys don't seem like you're from around here." Everyone nodded to show they understood and Mario explained the situation. Steve looked shocked and announced, "You guys are looking for some sort of golden fragment…Hmm…Wait! I think I remember a Villager was trading some odd golden trinket at the village!" Mario, filled with excitement yelled, "Luigi is going to run to the village with Toad. They are going to grab the Villagers and threaten them to give up the golden trinket or else they will destroy the village!" Luigi looked with big eyes back at Mario and said, "Bro…That's not me!" Mario saw that the Luigi he had his arm around had a pink hat, and then the fake Luigi jumped out of the window.

Steve led the way through the forest as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach followed behind. The heroes looked in amazement at the whole blocky world around them as they saw the village. The team entered the village and Steve began talking to the Villagers. Mario and Luigi took the left side of the village, Peach took the right side, Toad took the North side, and Steve took the South side. Mario stared at the strange big-nosed people while Luigi traded some wheat that he took from the crop fields for an emerald. Peach put some make-up on the female Villager when a walking skeleton jumped out of a hole in the ground. It began shooting arrows at her as she used her purse like a pair of nunchucks. She spun her purse into the skeleton's head and the skeleton burst into a pile of bones. Toad found a Villager who was wearing a black apron, so he began talking to him, "Do you know anything about an odd golden rock?" The Villager then responded, "YES! I do! Yesterday while I was on my evening walk, I discovered a golden rock in the middle of a crater in the ground. I took it and traded it to a nice gentleman who dropped by this morning."

Chapter 43

Toad screamed at the top of his lungs, "GUYS! MEET ME AT THE WELL!" The heroes viciously scurried over to the well and Toad told the team about what the Villager said. "The only other person I know that can survive on hard is EiaS. Let's go! He lives in a cave in the snow biome," Steve said as the team exited the village. The snow biome was about six miles away so the team had a little walk ahead of them. Steve crafted the heroes an iron sword and iron pickaxe each since it was getting dark. Luigi flicked his emerald into the air and caught it again, and then a group of thieves appeared around him and did the same with a gold coin. Mario screamed at the thieves and ran up next to Steve. "How long have you been here? Don't you get lonely?" Mario asked Steve as they walked. Steve replied, "Twenty-one years. Yeah I do get lonely, but that's why I normally tame a wolf. Still, a wolf doesn't beat having a group of friends like you guys. Stop. There's a Ticker!"

A green creature that didn't have arms guarded the entrance to the snow biome. "It's actually called a Creeper, but it doesn't really matter. They explode if you get too close, so they can be very dangerous. Especially on hard! My diamond sword can kill it though!" Steve said as he drew out his blue, glistening sword. Toad hadn't been listening so he walked over to the Creeper to say hello. As the Creeper turned around and began walking towards him, Toad put out his arms and said, "Does someone need a hug?" The Creeper hissed, "SSsss", blew up, and Toad was launched into a tree. The explosion attracted a group of Creepers and the heroes ran to Toad. It started raining and lightning hit the five Creepers, but instead of it killing them, they began glowing! Steve pulled Toad up by his arm and sprinted through the woods as he yelled, "Those are now Supercharged Creepers! They are even more powerful than regular Creepers!" A Supercharged Creeper jumped from the tree above them and landed behind Luigi.

Chapter 44

Luigi screamed, "THE PEBBLE!" and tripped onto the ground. The Supercharged Creeper walked over and was about to explode when Steve threw a stone axe into the tree next to them. The tree slammed down on top of the Creeper and the heroes continued through the forest at full speed. As they neared the exit from the snow biome, a Skeleton riding a large mutant Spider jumped down and chased the heroes back to the Creepers. "We're cornered! We can't defeat that Spider Jockey or those Supercharged Creepers! Wait a second, we came here to find EiaS! Follow me guys," Steve said as he pulled a lever on the tree beside him and fell through the dirt into a tunnel. Everyone jumped down into the tunnel right as the Supercharged Creepers blew up everything, including the Spider Jockey! The team followed Steve down a set of stairs that had light coming from the bottom.

Once they got down the stairs, they came to a door. The heroes opened the door and saw a giant castle made of sand in an underground cave! Steve led Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad to the gate, and he knocked twice on the wall. A guard came over and unlocked the gate, and the team walked into the castle. "Steve! How are you?" A block-man in a suit said as he hugged Steve. "This is my friend EiaS, or Enderman in a Suit! We go way back. But, EiaS, we need the golden rock you bought from the Villager!" Steve explained and asked EiaS. EiaS scratched his head for a second and called over his guards. One was a guy dressed in a red cloak and the other one was in a tuxedo. "The one in red is Jack of Blades and the one in the tuxedo is Charles," Steve said as EiaS talked to the guards. Charles left the castle and Jack of Blades exited the room. "We haven't heard of any golden rock but we did see a strange man leaving the village. He had a spiky shell and was heading towards the direction of the Stronghold entrance," EiaS said as Mario jumped in excitement. Mario yelled as they all ran out of the castle, "It is Bowser! Thanks EiaS! I bet he's still here!"

Chapter 45

As the heroes sprinted for the stairs up, Luigi spotted Charles bouncing along the walls of the sandcastle, but he ignored it and ran up the stairs behind the others. They reached the surface but Steve led the heroes deeper into the snow biome. Steve and the heroes reached a small train station-looking building. Steve placed down five minecarts from a chest and everyone jumped into a minecart. Steve smashed a stone button and the minecarts blasted out of the station. "This track leads straight to the Stronghold, but mobs can still climb the fence! If they hit our minecarts, we're doomed!" Steve yelled as a Skeleton shot an arrow just behind his back. Steve was in the front, Mario was behind Steve, Luigi was behind Mario, Toad was behind Luigi, and Peach was behind Toad. A Zombie tried to jump onto Luigi, but it missed and was crushed by the other two minecarts. Suddenly, a Spider attached to Peach's minecart with a thread of its web, and it began to climb the thread towards Peach. Toad put out his arm and took the head off of a Creeper, and then he threw the head back at the Spider. The head slammed the Spider off just as it reached Peach! Then the heroes finally reached the Stronghold.

Steve showed the heroes the tunnel down to the Stronghold, and the team climbed down the ladders. They jumped down ready to fight Bowser but only found Bowser badly beaten on the ground. Bowser struggled to say, "He…He…The…The Nether Portal! He took the fragment into the Nether! Urk…," Bowser then passed out and was warped out of the vortex. Steve pulled out his sword and led the team cautiously to a room that was missing a door. Inside the room, there was a purple frame with mist inside of it. As they jumped in, Steve explained, "The Nether is going to be a lot different than the Overworld!" The team then all fell out of the portal onto some red rock.

Chapter 46

Mario got up to hear a screeching noise and a fireball blasted the ground next to him. A giant white floating squid-like creature then swooped down to spit another fireball, but Toad jumped up and hit the fireball back with his sword. The fireball blew up the creature and the team all met together in a circle. Steve whispered, "So here's the plan blah blah blah and blah!" Peach gave Steve a confused look and said, "Steve, why did you just say blah?" Steve smiled sheepishly and then pointed to a large fortress that was standing over a lava sea. The heroes sprinted towards the fortress and jumped from the red rock onto the top of the Nether Fortress. Everyone pulled out their swords and looked cautiously around for the guy Bowser mentioned. Peach spotted a light around the corner in the hall, so she ran for it. As she went around the corner, a floating set of golden bars with a head shot her through the wall of the fortress.

Peach grabbed onto the edge of the block and she held on with all her might as the creature floated towards her. Toad ran and drop-kicked the creature into the wall which killed it then he helped Peach up. The team continued through the halls into a large room with a throne in the middle of it. A man stood up from the throne and pulled out a diamond sword. "I am Herobrine! How dare you enter my fortress? You will not receive the thing you have come for. Turn back now!" The man said as he came closer. The man looked exactly like Steve but he had white eyes. Steve walked forward and said, "Listen Herobrine, if these guys don't get the fragment, our world could be affected too! We need it, please." Herobrine grabbed Steve and threw him into the wall which made Mario charge towards Herobrine.

Chapter 47

Herobrine raised his fists into the air and the room crumbled into a lava pool. Peach and Luigi jumped to the edge of the room and grabbed onto a block that wasn't crumbling. Luigi grabbed the block and Peach's hand as Mario slammed Herobrine onto a floating piece of the room. Toad fell down onto the throne with Steve, and they all watched as Mario fought Herobrine. Herobrine sent up geysers of lava which sprayed down all around Mario. Mario dodged a geyser and then tackled Herobrine back onto the ground. He punched Herobrine across the face as he blasted him back with a fireball. Mario dodged a block of the Nether Fortress that Herobrine shot at him and shoved Herobrine towards the throne. Toad slapped Herobrine over towards Peach and Luigi. Luigi put Peach on top of the block and then Luigi swung his sword at Herobrine. Herobrine kicked Luigi's sword out of his hand and into the lava, and he grabbed onto Luigi's leg. Luigi began to slip as Mario pulled out his sword and charged forward.

Mario jumped onto Herobrine and sliced his hand. Herobrine fell as Mario jumped and grabbed Luigi's hand. Herobrine fell into the lava and the room returned to normal. The team met up in the room and began talking. "Oh no…The fragment! Herobrine had it!" Steve yelled as Mario said, "Wow! Toad and Peach, you guys are as useless as Kevin and Gwen!" Toad smiled as he pulled the fragment out of his pocket and said, "Ha! You mean Peach is as useless as Gwen! When you hit Herobrine over to me, I swiped the fragment from his inventory!" The team all jumped up and down awkwardly and said, "We did it!" Mario walked over to Steve and said, "Thanks Steve! We owe it to you that we found this fragment. Here are your tools." Steve replied, "Your welcome. No. Keep the tools as souvenirs. Come back one day! It was good to have friends!" The team grabbed hands and warped out.

Chapter 48

The team launched out of the vortex and landed next to Yoshi. "Are you guys alright? I'm sorry but Bowser got past me! He lured me out with some fruit and then jumped in!" Yoshi apologized. "It's ok, Yoshi," Mario said as he hugged the green dinosaur. Peach walked over and said to Mario, "We need to get going. The next vortex seems to be farther than any of the others we have gone to." The heroes said their goodbyes to Yoshi and began trying to figure out where the next vortex was located. Toad gasped and everyone looked at him seriously. He looked up and said, "Oh sorry. There was a bug on Peach's arm and it flew off." Luigi then yelled, "I'VE GOT IT! It is in Rogueport!" Everyone gasped and Toad announced, "The ferry there is back near Peach's Castle, so we need to find out a way back to the castle." Yoshi ran over to the team with Birdo and said, "I know a quick way. However, you will have defeat a monster. There's a cave over there that has a secret pipe straight into the castle!" Peach gave Yoshi a weird look and replied, "Why do you have a secret pipe into my castle?" Birdo quickly shoved the team towards the cave.

ROAR! The heroes saw dust fall from the cave's entrance as the unknown beast let out a roar. Luigi said, "Gu..gu..gu..Gulp! Well…Bye!" Luigi took off running but Toad grabbed him by the overalls and dragged him into the cave. As they walked through the cave, Mario spotted the pipe and ran towards it. Then, a giant leaf smacked him to the ground. It was Petey Piranha! It lifted Mario up to its mouth and was about to eat him when Luigi let out a hearty seaman's laugh and exclaimed, "It's the tree-shaker!" Luigi ran over and tackled it into the wall. Boxing gloves appeared on Luigi's hands and he began to punch it. Petey Piranha then just swallowed Luigi as everyone screamed.

Chapter 49

It then picked up Toad and ate the top of his head like it was candy. Everyone screamed again and sat down uselessly. Peach then started eating a peach that she had in her pocket as Mario pretended rocks were cars and made them bash against each other. Petey Piranha walked over to eat Peach but then it saw the peach. It then started purring and Peach handed Petey the peach. It ate it and spit out Luigi and Toad's head. It then left the cave peacefully as the heroes jumped down the pipe. Luigi spotted a bounty on the wall and he walked over to it to rip it off the wall as the pipe began to suck him in. Luigi grabbed the bounty and was hanging onto it with his life as he was lifted off the ground. The corner began to tear and Luigi thought for sure the whole bounty would be ripped off, but the pipe began sucking even harder. A baby piece of the corner ripped off and Luigi was sucked into the pipe. The team popped out in Peach's Garden, and they headed immediately to the ferry dock.

"That'll be five ferry tickets to Rogueport please," The ferry attendant said as the team tried to board the ferry. "Come on, I'm the princess! There has to be an exception for the princess!" Peach begged the attendant after she realized she didn't have any tickets. The attendant blankly stared back and said, "No, there are no exceptions." Toad yelled, "Look Bowser and Peach are in lederhosen and are dancing to the Schnitzel Man's theme song!" The attendant looked outside and the team jumped on the ferry. The ferry took off and the dock faded into the distance. The heroes looked out at the sea and all jumped in excitement. The ship rocked and a blast of the water soaked Peach in her dress. She angrily started beating on the railing of the ship as Mario yelled, "Luigi, we're playing charades again!"

Chapter 50

The ferry pulled into the harbor and everyone scattered. The heroes walked down the familiar path to the stairs. As they went up the stairs, Mario began talking to Peach, "It's been a while since we've been here! You and the whole Shadow Queen incident was ridiculous! Well at least I don't have to worry about…Oh no…" A figure could be seen sprinting towards Mario and yelling, "MARIO! I can't believe you're back! Oh my gosh! It's me, Goombella!" Mario looked for a direction to run but Goombella had already reached him. Goombella began jumping up and down savagely, and she leapt onto Mario's face. Mario pulled her off by her ponytail and flung her to the ground as all his old partners came over from the inn. Koops, Flurrie, Yoshi, Admiral Bobbery, Vivian, and Ms. Mowz came over and dog-piled Mario. Mario smiled and said to all his old friends, "It's good to see you guys! It's been so long! But anyways, we're in a sort of situation…" Mario explained everything to his partners and they all agreed to help him find the vortex entrance.

"Well Mario, I know where the entrance is! It's in the Glitz Pit!" Koops said with excitement. The team set off immediately for the blimp as Vivian said, "Wait, you don't still have your blimp ticket Mario! The only way to get them is from Don Pianta, but he moved to Poshley Heights which means we will have to ride the Excess Express to get there!" Luigi yelled out loud, "But we don't have train tickets either! What are we going to do?" Peach walked over suspiciously and flashed the train tickets. Everyone looked shocked and Toad asked Peach, "How did you get those?" Peach walked out of the inn, eating a mushroom as everyone stared even more at the two Peachs. The Peach holding the tickets began laughing creepily and changed back into Doopliss! Mario and Yoshi jumped into fighting position but Doopliss walked over, handed them the tickets, and said, "I've changed! Now I just screw around with people, so yeah. The tickets are for repayment of what I did to you." Doopliss then changed into Princess Daisy and scurried off. Everyone scratched their heads and walked to the train station.

Chapter 51

"ALL ABOARD! The engineer yelled as the team entered the train and went to their rooms. Peach had her own room, Toad shared a room with all of Mario's partners, and Mario and Luigi had their own room. The team went to the chef and got some dinner of Koopasta, Mousse Cake, and Zess Tea. Mario ate with his partners and Luigi in their room while Toad and Peach at with the train engineer. The team peacefully relaxed and got ready for bed. As Mario and Luigi got into their beds, Luigi said, "Love you, goodnight bro." Mario put his head on his pillow and saw that Luigi was just standing there looking at Mario anxiously. Mario sighed and responded, "Love you, goodnight." Luigi looked satisfied and went straight to bed as Mario drifted off to sleep. "Good morning, chef! Thanks for breakfast," Toad said as he accepted the Omelette Meal and Power Punch from the chef. The chef happily nodded as the heroes ate their breakfast in the dining room. "Attention passengers, we will arrive in Poshley Heights in around twenty minutes," The speaker said as Yoshi spoke to Luigi, "Did you know your brother actually fought in the Glitz Pit! The Great Gonzales were unstoppable!" Luigi smiled and answered back, "You've kept the reputation going too. I saw you on tv, fighting Rawk Hawk! You kicked his butt!"

The train arrived Poshley Heights and the team scurried to Don Pianta's house. Admiral Bobbery knocked on the door with his head as Flurrie talked to Peach. Don Pianta opened the door and bear-hugged Mario. "Good to see you, my boy! How do you do?" Don Pianta said as he let them into his house. Mario told Don about everything and Don ran upstairs. After a few minutes, Don came down with the blimp tickets and gave them to Mario as he said, "Go save the Mushroom Kingdom!" The speaker on street post next to them then announced, "We are now leaving back to Rougeport!" Mario jumped on Yoshi's back, Flurrie picked up Peach, Ms. Mowz grabbed Luigi, and Toad rode on Koops' shell as the team ran back to the train. A grappling hook appeared in Mario's hand and he grappled the train as it flew out of the station. Everyone grabbed hands and flew behind the train like a barrel of monkeys.

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Slowly but surely, the team got into the train through a random roof hatch and they were on their way back to Rogueport. The heroes filed out of the train and went straight to the blimp. They handed the attendant the tickets and the blimp took off. "Ms. Mowz, why didn't you just steal some tickets or something?" Luigi asked as the blimp floated towards the familiar arena. Ms. Mowz replied, "I don't know. I just didn't feel like it." Luigi pounded his fist three times and then pulled Ms. Mowz around a random corner. The blimp landed and the team ran straight into the arena. "I'm sorry but the only way onto the stage is by signing up to fight," Jolene said as Mario begged her to let him into the arena. Luigi then spoke up and said, "Fine. We will fight! Mario and Yoshi will be the Great Gonzales, Vivian and I will be the Shadow Stache, and Peach and Toad will be the Mushroom Mashers!"

The Great Gonzales were up first and they had to battle the KP Koopas which were two KP Koopa Troopas and one KP Paratroopa. Vivian punched the two KP Koopas into the ground while Luigi stomped on the KP Paratroopa. Next up was the Mushroom Mashers versus the Dead Bones which were three Dull Bones with baker's hats on. Toad spun his head like a torpedo and slammed into one but then it jumped up and annihilated Toad. Then the other two beat up Peach with a bone. "Man! Bakers are the hardest enemies!" Toad said as the got into the stands to cheer on Mario and Yoshi. Mario and Yoshi had to defeat Rawk Hawk! Rawk Hawk came onto the stage and roared, "Finally! We can truly have a rematch! I will reclaim my title from the Great Gonzales!"

Chapter 53

Mario jumped straight onto Rawk's head as Yoshi threw eggs at his eyes. He then jumped onto Mario, but Mario guarded so that he didn't take a lot of damage. Yoshi pulled out an Ice Storm and froze Rawk. Mario then charged over and was about to end him when Luigi screamed from the stands, "USE TATTLE!" Mario groaned, sent out Goombella, tattled Rawk Hawk, and then sent back out Yoshi. Mario pulled out his hammer and slammed Rawk Hawk to the ground. The Great Gonzales had won. The team stormed onto the stage and jumped into the vortex as the security guards ran in. "AHHH!" Toad screamed as he crashed into the roof of a house. He got up to see that there was a bed up in the attic with him so he cautiously went down the stairs. He found himself in a large den that had a flat-screen tv, speakers, a jukebox, and a variety of other things. He spotted the door and ran out the door as someone came out of a side room of the den. He looked around to see that he was in a large town but something was wrong. The town was under Bowser's control!

A fishing rod hooked Toad's hair and ripped his hair off as a Koopa tackled him to the ground. "Where's Toad?" Luigi asked Mario and Peach as they hid behind a palm tree on the beach. "I don't know. He may be…Gone…," Peach said and everyone felt a cold chill go through their bodies. Mario got up and announced, "No. We are not going to hide down here! We will find Toad. I mean Bowser's minions aren't that strong, right?" The three heroes walked up the pathway off the beach and progressed through the town. They walked over to a house and as the heroes crept by it, the door opened and a walking rhino came out! Luigi screamed as the rhino walked towards him, and then the rhino said, "Shhh! My name's Tank! Come with me before they get you!" Luigi passed out because of the talking rhino, and Mario and Peach picked up Luigi and went into the rhino's house.

Chapter 54

Tank walked over to his wardrobe and slid it to the side, revealing a secret set of stairs. "Hurry! They're outside," Tank said as Peach went down the stairs with Luigi on her back. Mario nodded and went down as Tank slid the wardrobe back over the stairs. "Survivors!" A yellow bird said with excitement. A red octopus walked over, helped put Luigi into a bed, and said, "This town used to be so peaceful! AC never was like this before, until Bowser came. He took over the town by capturing Tortimer and then he sent his minions to make certain people look-outs for escapees. He's threatening to destroy the look-outs' homes if they don't obey him so it's not like they want to! Our town was gone in a dazzling gleam of hope! My name's Octavian and that's Twiggy." Then the door of the house could be heard opening and someone came in, screaming at Tank, "You! We heard a scream come from your house. What's going on in here?" Tank then replied, "There's nothing going on. A Birdwing Butterfly landed in my hair and I freaked out because I thought it was a giant spider." Footsteps walked towards the wardrobe but then walked back outside as the door slammed.

Tank slid the wardrobe away and Mario, Luigi, Peach, Twiggyy, and Octavian came out of the secret base. Mario explained everything to Luigi but Luigi replied, Manameek! Anareke!" Mario realized Luigi had a space slug on his head and ripped it off. Luigi then replied, "Ok, I understand. Let's go find Bowser!" Tank then explained the plan, "Ok so we're going to go Nookington's for tools so that we can fight back. We've been planning the rebellion for a while now so Sabel and Mabel are in on it! They have us masks and clothes so that the enemies can't see or recognize us." The team exited the house and ran cautiously past a Koopa who was running through flowers and destroying them. A watch-Goomba went into the watchtower and began looking around the town with binoculars. Three Koopas came out of a house holding bags filled with something. The team split into groups: Mario and Tank, Peach and Twiggy, and Octavian and Luigi.

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Octavian shook a tree that had cherries in it and Luigi threw the cherries into another tree beside the guards as they began frantically looking around. Using this as cover, Twiggy and Peach reached the Town Hall and hid next to the door as Mario and Tank knocked out the guards. "What's in these bags?" Mario asked as he threw the bags onto the ground. Tank replied, "Bells. They're our currency. But forget that for now, we have to get to the Town Hall with the others. The group all crawled under the window as Twiggy whispered, "Bowser's in there. He has cut off the mail so we can't send for help. That's why we were so happy to see you guys. We thought you were the rescue team but I guess you kind of are." As the heroes got up on the other side of the Town Hall, they began running towards the shops, but then Peach triggered a Pitfall seed.

"Leave me!" Peach said as the Goomba spotted her and sounded the siren. The team sprinted into Sabel and Mabel's and locked the door. "Phew…We made it…Peach…," Octavian said as the team peered out of the window. Two Shy Guys seized her and took her into the Town Hall as Sabel and Mabel said, "We've got the stuff." The heroes all put on ski masks, camouflage shirts, camouflage pants, and black shoes. After they thanked Sabel and Mabel, the team sprinted into Nookington's. "Nook! We need fishing rods, nets, axes, watering cans, saplings, slingshots, and shovels! Right now!" Octavian yelled as the raccoon walked over. "That'll be ten thousand bells, please," Tom Nook replied with a smile as the whole team burst into a rage! "We are going to save the town and you want a payment!" Luigi screamed as he shook his fist violently. Nook nodded and then Tank threw him into Shampoodle's as the team quickly grabbed everything.

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The team stormed out only to meet a whole wave of Bowser's minions. The two teams lined up and then charged at each other. Twiggy used her shovel to make a Goomba fall into a hole, and Luigi threw a net over a Koopa as Mario threw his fishing pole into a Lakitu's hair and yanked it out. As the heroes battled, a man in black and red spiky armor could be seen battling a dragon as awesome battle music played. Octavian dodged a Bullet Bill and shot a stone into a Koopa with his slingshot. Tank planted a sapling with his shovel, watered it with his watering can, and it grew into a tree instantly. Tank then jumped and chopped the tree down onto a Wiggler with his axe. Then the heroes spotted three of the houses' doors opened. A camo alligator came out of one, a black horse came out of the other, and a white dog came out of the last one.

"Oh no! It's the look-outs! They're forced to fight us!" Tank said as him and Mario threw a net over two Koopas. The dog, alligator, and horse came out holding an axe, fishing pole, and net and lined up across from the heroes. "We don't want to this…," They said as they charged forward. "No! Daisy! Roscoe! Sly! You don't have too!" Twiggy pleaded as she dodged a net. Octavian said who was who, "Daisy is the dog, Roscoe is the horse, and Sly is the alligator. We all used to be such good friends, until Bowser came!" Bowser walked over with Peach and Toad in a cage and laughed, "You thought you could beat me? GWAHAHAHA! I rule this town! The fragment is mine by the way. Turns out the old turtle-dude had found it while fishing. Anyways, ATTACK!" Suddenly, Daisy, Sly, and Roscoe turned around and charged towards Bowser with Tank, Twiggy, and Octavian right behind. Daisy and Roscoe grew a tree and chopped it down on top of him, Twiggy and Octavian got his arms in nets, and Sly and Tank tied up his legs with fishing poles.

Chapter 57

A horse with a yellow racing cap on came over and yelled, "I'm Victoria and I'm getting in on this fight too!" She stuffed her shovel into his mouth to make sure he couldn't spit fire as Mario and Luigi freed Peach and Toad. Mario aimed into the sky and shot a slingstone. The slingstone hit a mysterious object and it came crashing down straight towards Bowser. The UFO then crushed Bowser as the villagers jumped out of the way. As Bowser warped out of the vortex, Mario found the Golden Mushroom fragment on the ground. He ran towards it, but a green turtle reached it first. "You defeated Bowser and saved the town! Thank you old beans! I'm Tortimer. Boy, why are you slapping a monkey!" The old turtle said as everyone looked over to see Luigi savagely slapping a monkey. Luigi released the monkey and turned back around to listen to Tortimer. "As payment for saving AC, you may have this as well as these!" Tortimer continued and handed each of the heroes a bag of one thousand bells and Mario the fragment.

"Thank you guys! You saved AC! Come back soon!" The villagers all said in unison. The team hugged the villagers and grabbed hands. As they flew into the sky, Tom Nook dived for their legs, missed, and yelled, "You have to pay me for those tools!" The heroes flew out of the vortex and onto the stage as the security ran up onto the stage. "Did you guys get it?" Koops yelled as he shoved a security Toad off the stage and into the crowd. The team nodded and announced, "We've got to get out of here! I've got to get out of here!" A line of people appeared and began beating up the panicking heroes. Yoshi, Flurrie, Vivian, Goombella, Koops, Admiral Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz cleared the way for the heroes as they sprinted from the Glitz Pit. Right as the heroes got out of the door, they saw that the blimp was gone! Everyone began freaking out as the guards got closer and closer. "WE'RE DOOMED!" Goombella screamed as Peach spotted Bowser's Airship flying just below the Glitz Pit. Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach all looked at each other, grabbed hands, and took a Leap of Faith. As they flew down to the airship, an eagle screeched and a hooded man flew down with them. They closed their eyes and felt a thud.

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They opened their eyes to see that they had fallen into the swimming pool on Bowser's Airship! They all began celebrating but then they saw that the hooded man hadn't been so lucky. He had splattered just inches from the pool onto the concrete next to them. The heroes looked up to see Vivian, Flurrie, Koops, Goombella, Admiral Bobbery, Ms. Mowz, and Yoshi waving and yelling, "Good luck! Get the last fragment before Bowser! We believe in you!" The heroes crouched down and walked silently out of the pool area as Goombas came to check out the splash. Mario led the team to Bowser's control room and they burst through the door. Bowser stood up as a Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, and Boomerang Bro jumped in next to him. "I will obtain this fragment! I will win. Even if you get the fragment, I still have one so it's over for you!" Bowser yelled when his radio went off. "Bowser…Come in…This is Corporal Shy Guy! The last vortex is at your castle!" The radio said as everyone gasped. Bowser grabbed the gas pedal, pushed it forward, and snapped it in two! "We're going to get there fast now," Bowser said as the team began fighting his guards.

Peach did a cartwheel and landed on top of the Hammer Bro which killed it as Luigi punched the Fire Bro out of the window. Mario dodged a boomerang and tackled Bowser into the door as Toad bonked Boomerang Bro on the head with glass bottle. The team cheered on Mario as he fought Bowser out on the airship's deck. Bowser blasted a fireball and hit Mario into a Koopa. Mario grabbed the Koopa's shell, kicked the Koopa off of the airship, and launched the green shell straight for Bowser. It was about to hit Bowser when CRASH! The airship rammed straight into Bowser's Castle, and Mario got up only to see Bowser stumbling towards the vortex. Mario then quickly staggered after Bowser into the vortex, leaving the others behind.

Chapter 59

Mario opened his eyes to see that he was on a massive tower with an eye with veins all over the top of it. In the center of the tower was a shining white sword, and Mario quickly walked over to it. As Mario looked at the white spiky sword, he saw in the middle of it was a blue orb that had the last Golden Mushroom fragment in it! Mario grabbed the sword and said as he lifted it into the air, "This is Soul Calibur!" Suddenly, a flaming portal appeared on the tower and Bowser walked out with a flaming, bronze sword. Bowser roared, "This is Soul Edge!" The two looked at each other as mystical armor covered their bodies. Mario was covered in a spiky set of glistening silver armor while Bowser was covered with dark stone and a dark helmet. "Battle…BEGIN!" A voice said as Mario and Bowser charged at each other.

Mario dodged Bowser's sword and punched him back with the hilt of his sword. Bowser exploded a surge of darkness around him and grabbed Mario as Mario guarded. Bowser threw Mario over his shoulder and stuck his sword into his armor as a bolt of lightning shocked Mario. Mario leapt to his feet and yelled, "Time to fly!" Mario slid his sword under Bowser and threw him into the air as Bowser charged up to hit Mario again. Bowser landed on the ground and rolled, dodging Mario's sword by just a hair. Mario shield-bashed Bowser by using his sword like a shield and charging towards him, and then the two reached the edge of the tower. Mario dodged Bowser's punch and jumped over his sword as he lifted back his sword. Mario then slammed his sword down on Bowser so hard that Bowser's armor broke and a surge of energy blasted around him. Mario lifted his sword into the air and it began shooting blue energy out of the top. Mario then brought the sword down on Bowser's head and Bowser was beaten. "CRITICAL FINISH!" The voice boomed.

Chapter 60

Mario retrieved the fragment from his sword and put Soul Calibur in his overalls as he walked towards the exit of the vortex. Mario looked back at Bowser and said as he exited, "We will duel for the final fragment at Peach's Castle." Mario came out onto the crashed airship to find Luigi, Peach, and Toad sitting there. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" Everyone screamed as they hugged Mario. Mario told everyone what happened and about the duel at Peach's Castle, and they all nodded and set off for the castle. As they walked through town, all the Toads began celebrating and throwing flowers at the heroes, but to look cool, they kept walking and looking straight. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad met Bowser on top of Peach's Castle, and the final battle awaited. Bowser flashed the final Golden Mushroom fragment as the heroes got into formation. Mario put on his Legendary Queen's Guard Armor without the helmet, his Clash of Clans' Wizard cloak with the hood over his head, got out his Minecraft sword and Soul Calibur, his bag of Bells, and Luigi threw Ash's hat on top of his hood as he yelled, "I took it from Ash as we left! I knew you didn't get anything from that vortex so here you go!"

Luigi put on his Legendary Armor, got out his figures from Clash of Clans, sent out Bulbasaur, and pulled out his Minecraft pickaxe and axe from AC as Toad and Peach put on their gear. The team then charged Bowser. Mario combined his Nova Bomb, lightning bolt, and Bells into a super energy ball which he then shot at Bowser. Bowser fell back as Luigi threw his figures into Bowser's eyes. Peach summoned her flaming pistol as Toad pulled out his sword and they both struck Bowser. Then Bowser blasted fire onto Luigi but Luigi used his pickaxe to block it. Mario sliced Bowser with his swords, and then the heroes all nodded. The team combined all of their items into an energy ball and shot it at Bowser. The four energy balls annihilated Bowser and he flew into the ground. The team retrieved all of their items and walked towards Bowser. Luigi leaned down, snatched the fragment, and handed it to Mario. Mario carefully pulled out the six Golden Mushroom fragments and put them all together! They had done it! The Golden Mushroom was once again in one piece! Suddenly, a small figure flew in and took a bite of the Golden Mushroom!

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The figure grew to gigantic size and roared, "I told you, Mario, that I would squash you!" Mario then recognized the spider from when they had gotten the crystal that had the Golden Mushroom out of the tunnel! The spider was now massive and golden with the ability to shoot electric webs. Toad charged towards the spider and began weakly punching its leg. The spider flicked Toad into the ground as a green man in armor jumped up onto the roof of the castle with them. The man yelled, "It's me, Master Chief, from the Halo vortex! I'm here to help!" He jumped onto the spider and began shooting it with an assault rifle as Luigi slapped the spider's leg. The spider thumped Luigi off of the edge of the castle, and Luigi barely got a grip to hang on. Luigi dangled above the ground as he held on with one hand. Master Chief ran over and grabbed Luigi's hand right as he fell, and he pulled Luigi up as he pulled out an Energy Sword.

Master Chief stabbed the spider through one of its eyes as Mario began to say, "Wait a second…We didn't go to a Halo…" Luigi quickly yelled, "BRO! DON'T SAY IT!" Mario shrugged his shoulders and said, "We never went to a Halo vortex, Master Chief." Master Chief then disappeared in a puff of smoke as the spider stuck Peach to the ground with a web. Peach screamed, "I guess we will have to destroy the…" Mario roared to Peach, "NO! We aren't destroying the Golden Mushroom after all that crap we had to go through to get it! NOPE!" Peach then continued, "Heck no! We aren't destroying the mushroom, we are going to destroy the spider by eating a piece ourselves!" Luigi freed Peach and the team ran to the Golden Mushroom which was on the ground.

Chapter 62

Everyone took a baby bite and grew to massive golden size! The heroes all nodded and charged at the spider. Luigi grabbed four of its legs, Toad grabbed four of its legs, Peach held the spider up, and Mario used F.L.U.D.D. to spray water in its mouth. The spider roared as the water sprayed in its mouth, "Urk! Stop! Stop!" Mario then powered-up for the final punch and blasted the spider in its stomach. The spider spit out the water, the Golden Mushroom piece, and returned to normal size. Everyone put their bites of the Golden Mushroom back on the Golden Mushroom and the journey was over! Mario walked over to the spider and stomped on it with his shoe which ended the spider!

Everyone returned to Peach's room and began to celebrate. The Toads threw a massive party and everyone had a great time. All of the companions that had helped them get to a vortex came too, so the heroes thanked them by inviting them to a party. The party went on until around three in the morning, and once everyone left, the heroes began to talk. "Wow that was some journey! But what about the Golden Mushroom?" Luigi asked as Peach said, "Well…I guess we are going to put it in the royal treasury where no one can ever get it." The heroes agreed and Toad said, "I'm going to miss those vortex guys…They were awesome!" Peach smiled and said, "Well if we want to go back, all I have to do is puncture the Golden Mushroom!" Everyone evilly stared at Peach as Mario said, "I guess me and Luigi are heading home…It was fun guys! Well…Bye!"

Chapter 63

Toad walked with Mario and Luigi to town and waved them "bye" as they went down the pipe, and he went inside his house. Mario and Luigi walked down the familiar trail to their house, and as they went inside their house, they noticed a letter on the door which said, "Mario and Luigi, I speedily ran to your house before you got there to tell you about a new artifact discovered while we were gone! It's called the…" Mario grabbed the letter without reading anymore and put it in the shredder. Mario put his stuff from the vortexes in his chest as Luigi brushed his teeth. As Luigi finished brushing his teeth, Mario took Soul Calibur and broke off a small piece of it. He handed it to Luigi and said, "I know how you like to collect things and since you didn't get to enter the last vortex, I want you to have this." Luigi took it, hugged Mario, and exclaimed, "Thanks bro! Gee Willikers, now I have a collectable from all of the vortexes!" Mario climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep as he heard Luigi playing a story with his stuff in his bed above him.

The End

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