Author's Note:

This is my first story…hope you all enjoy!

Thanks in advance to my friends who reviewed this and made suggestions.

Mario characters, the Mushroom Kingdom, etc. do NOT belong to me, but this story does.

Chapter 1: Prologue

"Ugh!", Bowser cried out in pain. The burns from his last battle with the Mario Bros were causing him great agony.

"I'm so sick of getting my butt kicked by those stupid plumbers!", Bowser complained As the Koopa King took a seat on his royal throne, his partner in crime Kamek the koopa arrived. Worried for his friend, Kamek questioned "Your majesty, may I say something?"

"Make it quick", Bowser replied, snarling.

"I suggest we try a different tactic", Kamek stated. Confused, Bowser asked "What do you mean by that?", while tapping his claws on the thrones armrest.

"Well, I had a project that I was working on, but you probably wouldn't be interested…" Kamek stated nervously. "I guess I could take a peek at it. Anything that could help me take over the Mushroom Kingdom" Bowser said hesitantly.

"Oh, it will" Kamek said, a devilish smirk on his face.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…", the rusty door squeaked as Kamek and Bowser entered Kamek's secret science lab. The lab was all white, with rats that appeared to be deformed…

"Where did you get the funding for all this?" Bowser questioned.

"Oh, none of this was funded. I bought all of this equipment with my own money", stated Kamek.

"Where'd you get all that money?"

"There's some things you shouldn't know about, sir…"

Bowser decided not to pry any further, and the two of them continued walking through the laboratory. The rats in the cages started to act up, their eyes glowing red while they foamed at the mouth. "What's going with these rats…" Bowser questioned.

"Ah, those are my test subjects" Kamek stated while looking at some beakers.

"Test subjects for what, exactly?" Bowser asked Kamek.

"For my new virus of course!", exclaimed Kamek. "What does this virus do?" asked Bowser as he watched the infected rats claw furiously at their cages.

"Well, the virus takes over the host and controls their thoughts and movements", Kamek explained, " so they are completely under our control, and they must do as we command them to do!"

"This all sounds good", Bowser stated, "but can the virus be controlled? It won't turn against us?"

"Of course!", Kamek shouted, "with this new virus, the Mushroom Kingdom shall face a new threat the likes of which the world has never seen before!"

Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first story, hopefully there'll be many more to come! Please review, and be gentle with the criticism please. Stay tuned for a new chapter soon, where the action heats up!