Toadstool

Chapter 1: Here We Go!

Bullets blazed from every direction. Were there once was a valley was now an open graveyard. Men jumped from foxhole to foxhole, trying to escape the death and tragedy surrounding them, just to find the next filled with bodies of their fallen brothers. The two opposing sides showed no mercy, shooting the enemy as if they had swatted a fly. The once proud kingdom finally found misery.

There was a pause in the battle. A soldier dressed in his blue uniform stood up, and shouted. "We won!" A bullet rebounded on his helmet; he fell backwards and started to black out. Before he passed out, he asked himself, why am I here?

The fortress was known as Mushroom Kingdom. Mushroom Kingdom had the best military force on the face of the earth. Their white walls were known to be nigh impenetrable, but that was long ago. Since then the kingdom experienced nearly a century of peace. The military went soft, their only purpose was to patrol for thieves and ne'er do wells, but even those were in short supply. The walls were taken down as a sign of peace and trust to the other kingdoms.

The townspeople, known as Toads, also softened. In their prime they were trained assassins, known to use their advanced science and technology to create poisons to eliminate their foes as fast as possible. They earned the name Toad for their poisonous past. In these days Toads still posses the swiftness and shortness of an assassin, but would rather spend their days lazing about and doing as common people do.

But every so often a Toad is born that is tall, and in place of stealth was great power. These were called the Chosen. Chosen could live for centuries and could take a fatal blow with not but a minor wound. They were revered as gods in the eyes of the people. In all of Mushroom Kingdom there were two Chosen. They had been the head of military operations and technology ever since the kingdoms foundation. They were called Mario and Luigi.

Luigi was the head of weapons technology and production. He helped the Toads go from rocks and sticks to semi-automatic guns in less than a century. Mario was the fearless leader of the ground troops. His supremacy was matched by no one.

"Return fire, I repeat. Return fire!" The bullets again flew. The Toads started to back away as they fired. "Sir!" One Toad shouted. "Goombas are proceeding forward with no sign of ceasing. I think we should retreat."

Mario looked down at the Toad. "What's your name son?" "Samson sir." "Samson, have you ever been in a war?" "No Sir." "Now look at those ugly sons of bitches. They're road kill compared to the all the foes I've killed. They have no arms, their guns are on the top of their head; they have no aim. They are dumb as shit, so of coarse they're going to march forward. So Samson, what will it be? Go out there and shoot those godless bastards or go home and watch the world be taken over by small time shits like these?" "Go home sir, face it we have no training, no experience, we're being slau-"

Mario put his palm to the Toads' face.

"Wrong answer"

He clutched his head in one hand, lifted his entire body up, and crushed his skull with no effort. The troops looked at the scene with terror on their faces. Mario tossed the body in to his side. "Now if anyone else wants to up and quit, come see me." He grabbed his gun and ran into the crowd of Goombas.

"Smart ass! You killed one of your men and expect to be pardoned just because you are you? What the hell were you thinking?"

Mario looked at the video screen. "Bro chill. I'm too far from the castle to be prosecuted and after that little stunt I don't think anyone will blab." "Better not, damn it Mario, why don't you think for a change? Don't be a hero, be a leader." "Most heroes were great leaders." "And in the real world they are not. Heroes go off alone and die arrogantly, leaders lead they're troops to a better place in life." "Well that Toad is in a better place, so I guess I win Luigi." Mario Laughed.

Luigi disconnected the link. He sighed and plopped down on a chair. He was still in the castle, maintaining order in the kingdom. He looked down at the piles of papers before him. All of them were complaints about every infraction possible. Complaints of burglary, rough housing, murder, all in a nice little pile. He started signing them all in hopes of getting some time to work on his newest weapon.

Luigi sighed, his hand stung from all the writing he had done. Nearly six hours had passed, and his only break was five minutes to go to the bathroom. He rested his head on the desk. I can do experimenting another time, he thought to himself. He looked at the picture of the old king on his desk. There was a smudge of blood on the glass, a reminder of his failure. Luigi slowly fell asleep, and dreamed of the terror he created. And every so often he mumbled, "My fault, all my fault."