The Blue Toad was thrown into the cell. It had hurt, but he managed to get up. He saw his Brigade comrades, all in shock and surprise.
"Why did you do that, Captain?!" The Toad called the captor. Indeed, their very own captain has captured them. Standing before their own eyes, the captain just looked, his dull eyes looking at his previous teammates.
"When I tried to lead, none of you would follow." He said, his voice as dull as his eyes were. "When I tried to talk, none of you would listen. Only Master Bowser and Master Porky stood by me and believed in me."
"Captain, this is nonsense!" The Blue Toad retorted. "You…you'd never team up wi—"
"SILENCE!" Their captain screeched. The Toad Brigade stood shocked at their captain. His fury was unsettling.
"You are all cowards…" He muttered, venom emerging from his voice. "Hammer Bro, keep them in the cell until I decide what punishment they deserve."
"Yes, sire!" The Hammer Bro saluted. Captain Toad let out an evil laugh as left.
"Captain…" The yellow Toad muttered, nearly tearing up. The rest of the Brigade hugged their teammate, out of desperation and sadness.
"Don't worry, Yellow. Maybe…we'll find out what happened to the Captain." Blue Toad consoled him, though he wasn't sure if they would actually know what happened to their once naïve and caring leader. In fact, he thought they would never know.
But he shrugged that hopelessness off. He needed to be strong now. His teammates needed all help they could get. So did he.
The Toads embraced themselves, longing for hope and warmth.
Luigi checked on the rough edges on the entrance for a map. Seeing as it had none, he motioned Ness to trek forward. Both really didn't like the fact that a map was absent.
"Navigating is going to be a pain…" Ness complained.
"My thoughts exactly." Luigi called.
Suddenly, Ness sensed a slight pain on his head. That was his psyche senses. "We're not alone here." The boy said.
"Friends or enemies?" Luigi asked. As in that moment, two Koopas riding really strange drill machines appeared on their field of vision.
"I don't think they are here for a chat…" Ness commented. Luigi could only nod. As a Koopa began to accelerate towards them, Luigi grabbed Ness, and used his amazing jumping abilities to…well, jump over them. The Koopas started chasing them.
"You think we'll outrun them?!" Ness asked to his friend. Luigi replied with a hasty "We can only try!" However, the drill machines gave the creatures more speed than the heroes did.
"They are closing in!" Ness warned Luigi. Luigi, looking behind, knew there was no choice. He jumped backwards, and ground-pounded one of the machines. The glass cracked, and the Koopa inside panicked. The machine, without the Koopa's control, crashed towards the other machine. Both culminated into a explosion, and both Koopas got up to attack the heroes.
Luigi chuckled and jumped on one of them, and said Koopa hided under his shell, and got promptly kicked away, taking his partner along.
Ness stood befuddled at his partner. Was that all part of a plan of his? Just if he had any confirmation, the machines started running again. Ness quickly raised his hands and made a fireball.
"PK Fire Alpha!" He threw the fireball, and the machines exploded once again, only this time they stayed as a pile of rubble.
Both heroes looked at each other and sighed. Not even the first world was going to be easy.
Mario paced back and forth between the cage he shared with Paula. He needed to find a way out… he tried all kinds of things but nothing was working.
"Mr. Mario?" Paula called the plumber. Mario turned to her. "You can just call me 'Mario', Paula. What is it?"
"I…managed to link with Ness…he's with Luigi. On some sort of mines…" She said, panting a bit. To Mario, it was clear she was exhausted for liking with Ness's mind. He could understand that.
"Paula, you're wasting too much energy. You got to rest a bit." Mario said to her. She was grateful Mario cared about her wellbeing, but she wanted to keep the link for a while. However, this was proving to be difficult, since it was consuming too much of her energy. So, she felt it was necessary to cut the link.
As Mario noticed her breathing became stable, he turned to the cage with Peach. She was with Lucas and Jeff. "How's Lucas?" he asked. Jeff turned to him and adjusted his glasses.
"He'll recover soon." The boy answered simply. Mario felt a bit of relief, but his anger came out when Bowser and Porky appeared again. Mario was more tranquil, due to knowing his brother was okay.
"I see you'll be visiting us often." Mario said, his voice calm but which a twitch of anger. Bowser knew this was his arch nemesis, so he couldn't argue with the way he acted.
"Well, you see this?" Bowser said, showing the Amida Orb. "This orb will make you my slave. Just like him!" He then showed, in a hologram, the hypnotized Captain Toad.
"Is there anything you want me to do, Master Bowser?" The Toad asked, his voice still dull and lifeless.
"Imprison Ness and Luigi. We cannot let them ruin our plans!" Bowser commanded. As Captain Toad bowed and turned off the projection, Bowser laughed.
"This will be you in a couple of days. Enjoy your last days of free will!" He said, laughing while leaving. Porky only smirked evilly.
Mario could only growl. He needed to find somewhere to escape.
"Mario…" Peach whispered quietly. She was worried about the dangers that would happen to him. Jeff pulled her dress slightly to call her attention.
"He'll be fine." Jeff said. "I know he will." He could only keep their hopes strong.
A quiet smile grew on Peach.
