Koopa Kingdom, approximately 4:29 am

Larry

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

My kart took off like a lightning bolt. Everyone else was behind me in an instant.

Kart races are the best! The speed, the energy, the competition... it's a great thing to do if you're bored.

Morton's kart dropped in front of me. He must've went on the top street. But the bottom one had power-ups! I picked up a green shell- not a real one, or I'd freak out- and threw it at him.

It turned into shards when it hit his wheel. He went spinning, and I passed him.

Yeah! I was in 1st place! And for a really long time, too. One lap, two laps... uh oh. Being first in the third lap's never good. A certain something always ruins it-

BAM! There it was! That blue explosion. A blue shell, this early?!

But then I saw him, in that shell. That had been his shell. I saw him turn his head as I fell off the bridge.

"Get up."

I lost, that quickly. Lakitu didn't come to pick me up. I was lost in this black hole-

"Get up!"

Was that Lakitu? "Um, I can't get back up there. I'm stuck in a pit!"

"Larry, for Dad's sake, wake up!"

YEOW! Something really big and fluffy hit my face.

I sat up and punched the thing away. Then I noticed Iggy standing beside my bed, holding a pillow in his hands.

"Phase one complete. Phase two: get ready, cuz we're doing it all over again."

Oh no. "Seriously?"

"I know right?" Iggy hissed. "Lord, and this early in the morning, too..."

I realized how dark it was in here. Which meant it was dark outside. Which meant...

I looked at my alarm clock. "What the frack? It's not even dawn!"

"Well, Dad wants to have another date with Peach, so we're gonna have to suck it up and deal with it."

"Hoo-ray." I grabbed my shell and waved for Iggy to leave.

Iggy

I am so. Fracking. Tired of this.

Dad's gonna kidnap Peach, Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, and cause an uproar for, like, the 60th time. And because we're his royal kids, we've got to go with him whether we want to or not.

It's absurd! He's the big bad King of the Koopas, and he fell in love with a pathetic human. You'd think the authority of an entire race would know better than to remotely like an enemy, or repeat a plan that's failed multiple times, but does Dad listen to any of us?

Right.

Anyhoo, now that all seven of us are up with the sun, we were all told to pack together in a little airship so that we could await further instruction. We were all at our stations in the front deck. Why are kids driving a flying pirate ship? Cuz we're pretty unusual kids.

Even with glasses and a pretty bad attention span, everyone lets me take the wheel. Probably because I've driven Chain Chomp cars my whole life.

Larry's got big bug eyes that only look more buggy if he's surprised, which somehow improve his accuracy. He's got scary good aim, even with a tennis racket at a weapon, so he's on the targeting systems for weapons.

Lemmy used to be my best friend. We were pranksters, both of us, always looking for trouble. But then we grew apart. Lemmy's still an immature guy, all dreamy and stuff, so we gave him the job of pointing out anything cool-looking or possibly useful.

Wendy's the only girl in our group... and man, is she bossy. She's also obsessed with the usual girly stuff: makeup, jewelry, rumors about this hot celebrity dude being a two-timer... we stuck her to the messaging lines between armadas for her social skills.

Morton... he's a total klutz. Also a big softie. We couldn't really find anything for him to do, since he falls asleep if he's not paying attention to anyone for 3 seconds, so Kamek found something for him: engine integrity patrol. Greeeat idea, old man. He upped chances of doom by 35%.

Roy's mean. He just is. That's how he earned the name "Bully" as a kid. He intentionally finds something to fight over with anyone who looks like they've got muscle on their arms. His only real talent is in the firearms department, which is why he controls the weapons.

Last but not least, Ludwig. He's... something else. Really smart, really powerful, really sensitive to anything. Unfortunately, his little body hasn't ever matched the strength of his mind, so it's best if he stays protected. He's our lookout, in case someone spots us.

Like anyone's gonna spot us. Somehow, we can sneak into Mushroom Kingdom airspace even if we don't go above cloud cover. Word of advice: don't hire Toads as guards for a castle, ever.

"Everyone says they're ready to go," Wendy said. How does she know things even with her snout in her phone?

I sat in the driver's seat and revved up the airship. "Let's go, team!"

Morton

Another day, another attempt to kidnap Princess Peach.

No one knows why Dad started to be in love with her. Our home, the Koopa Kingdom, and the Mushroom Kingdom have been at war with each other for years. Then, after Bowser had first imprisoned her, she's been one of the only things on his mind. That's why we've tried repeating the kidnapping plan so many times, cuz she's the only person he cares about.

At this point, we're just minions, not his kids, like before. I remember, before he fell in love, when he used to hug me while there was a storm. Storms are still scary to me today. You never know whether it's acid rain or fire tornadoes in my Kingdom!

But now, it's been all about trying to catch Peach's attention. And I've heard, for some reason, that she likes him too. Wendy and I like to talk about stuff when everyone else is busy.

What's the deal between them? Why did Dad forget us? Couldn't we be a family all together?

I've thought about it for a long time. Peach, being our mother. She's really gentle, to be honest. I'd love that. Roy and Iggy? Not so much.

I looked away from the engine model screen. To my left, there's Wendy with communication lines and Iggy in the driver's seat. Larry, Lemmy, and Roy are past them. To my right's Luddy.

He was cleaning out one of his guns.

Now I know what you're thinking: "This is Super Mario! No one has guns! It's all cannons and laser beams, nothing gritty like a Glock!" Well, that's not true. I once fought Mario riding Yoshi, and he had this rifle thing called the "Super Scope". He blew up Iggy's frog machine, which I was riding in, and taken back the emerald I'd stolen.

Not fair.

Thankfully, Luddy's got us covered now. I've seen him use all kinds of pistols and rocket launchers and stuff. He's scary with those things, and probably for a good reason.

Because despite what people think, unlike us with Wands and magic weapons, Luddy doesn't have any magical powers whatsoever.

A Wand doesn't count as a magic ability. The six of us have innate magic reserves, which we use in summoning things like bouncy bombs or ring boomerangs. A Wand just channels energy that's in the air, and having magic in the air is commonplace here.

We'd hoped that he'd gained lightning powers during the hotel mission, but that was just him using a cool plasma rod.

I wonder how he feels about that. But I can't tell cuz he's always so... stoic.

Wendy tapped my shoulder. "What's up, Morty? Feeling down?"

"Kind of," I said.

"We're almost there. Iggy says you and Roy will be the first to drop, since you guys can make earthquakes."

Earth magic. I nodded, and then looked over the screen, down at the ground.

There's Peach's castle! It's got white walls and red roofs, and that mosaic window every tourist likes to take pictures of.

I sighed. It's time to storm that castle.

Larry

Here we go. This is it. The moment of truth.

I'm standing behind Morty and Roy. They're gonna fall from the ship first and paralyze everyone with their earthquakes. Me and Luddy were behind him: our goal was to stop Mario in his tracks. And behind us, Wendy, Lemmy, and Iggy. They're going for the real prize.

"You guys ready?" I asked loudly. I heard the others say yes, and Luddy nod.

The hatch was opening. I breathed in, breathed out, then said, "Let's do this!"

Morton and Roy fell feet-first. I heard Toads crying out, then they shook as those two landed. The earthquake was powerful, stopping all nerves after being shocked.

Me and Luddy were next.

I love falling out of the ship. It's like skydiving, only without the parachute and much more serious.

Wait. Luddy was holding a-

He landed right behind Mario and put that gun to his head. I was freaked- Bowser always told us to use our Wands, but Luddy was going the extra mile. A pull of that trigger, and Mario would be dead.

I've wished more than once that he would run out of 1-Ups, but actually seeing him die... I don't wanna.

I heard Peach's scream. Behind Mario, my other three siblings had the princess stuck in a golden ring. A Chain Chomp barked at her feet, and Lemmy was sitting on her shoulders.

We'd won! We'd captured Peach.

All around us, the Toads were unconscious. That quake must've been really strong. Morton and Roy came close, and Morty gasped.

"Luddy! Are you going to kill him?!" he cried.

Luddy shook his head, but he looked really angry. We were scared that he'd change his mind and take out the human where he stood.

I turned. "You guys! Get Peach on the ship. We're done."

But Mario was pulling something out of his overalls. Wait... that was his Super-

Luddy shot Mario's leg, and Mario screamed, going down. The Super Scope gun fell and slid across the room.

He motioned for me to follow the other five as he ran and picked up Mario's gun. I was frozen for a second- that leg was bleeding bad.

For some reason, I wanted to help him...

Then I shook my head. No! He's our enemy. He'll recover from it, cuz he's like that. With that, I got the frack out of there.