4

Meanwhile, under another castle, King Bowser and his secret council of Koopa Troops gathered together for a secret meeting. Many of the council's members were former supporters of the Mushroom Kingdom - traitors that were drawn to the dark side by means of revenge against King Toadstool for past criminal sentences. All in all, the meeting's purpose was obviously not for good intentions.

Bowser's meeting room was not very cozy. The walls were made of stone, along with much of the furniture such as the chairs and giant table. There was but a single large lamp hanging from the ceiling, but no light switch because it was a clapper. The only luxury in the room was the pool table, which was hardly at use even on the weekends and holidays.

As Bowser at down in his chair at the end of the long meeting table, he signals everyone in the room to quiet down by making a forceful hand gesture. Then, he began to speak.

"My fellow Koopas." He began in a dark tone. "I have called all of you in here to make an important announcement. Now, before I go on telling what it is, I must remind all of you that this may determine the fate of our alliance; whether we perish or prosper depends on our ability to act as soon as possible."

He paused and made a slight cough, then continued.

"Well, as you all know, King Toadstool has had lung cancer for quite some time now and has been in critical condition. Today, I have received word from my long-time caretaker, Kamek that he has just passed away yesterday evening after the cancer became too great for him to control on his own."

"Why exactly is this announcement so important, sir?" one of the Koopa Troops asked. "Does it even matter whether the king is dead or not?"

"That's like asking whether you should or should not eat to stay alive!" Bowser yelled. "Of course it matters! Does anyone here in this room remember why it would be so important for the king to be dead rather than for him to still be alive? Anyone?"

The room went completely silent. Bowser moaned in an irritated tone.

"Alright, boneheads! Let me refresh your memory. Since the king has died and there has yet to be an inauguration for a new king, it is the perfect opportunity for us to overthrow the Mushroom Kingdom and take it in our hands and conquer it!"

Everyone started nodding their heads in agreement.

"And because the king has no son that gives us an even greater advantage!" Bowser added.

Everyone was now in agreement, and Bowser had proven his point.

"Another question arises, sir." said another Koopa. "How are we going to overthrow the Mushroom Kingdom and when?"

The room was silent again as everyone started thinking about the question. Bowser was quick to respond.

"The two princesses are having a huge celebration tonight in honor of King Toadstool and his achievements throughout the years." Bowser said. "That being said, I think tonight would be the best time to put our plan into action."

"What plan do we have?" said another troop at the other end of the giant table. "What are we going to do to initiate our invasion?"

"That I did not have to think over." Bowser said. "Damn it! I wish you never brought that up!"

Bowser remained quiet for another minute or two, and then he finally thought of something.

"Okay, you know how I said that the king didn't have any sons to take his role as king? The only royalty that's left is the two princesses. That being said, I think the best thing that we can do is kidnap the two princesses during their party!"

The other Koopas were thrilled at Bowser's evil plan.

"That's very excellent, sir!" said another Koopa. "Why haven't you thought of that sooner?"

"I'm not sure." Bowser replied. "But I'm very certain that this plan will work. The only way that it would fail is if someone came and rescued the princesses and bailed them out while I have them in captivity."

"Like anyone would be brave enough to do that!" said another Koopa. Everyone inside the chamber went into hysterics.

"The last time we ever saw something like that happen was…actually, that has never happened at all!" Bowser said, making himself go into hysterics. Finally, he was able to calm down and continue explaining his strategy.

"Okay, here's the plan." He began. "We begin our journey to the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom to the city of Toad Town, preferably by airship, since it's much faster than by regular foot travel. Once we reach the castle, we will carefully maneuver ourselves past the guards and travel through the secret entrance below the castle and emerge into one of the hallways. From there, it's a matter of where the princesses will be located. Once we find them that will be our chance to kidnap them. If we can avoid any attention whatsoever from anyone else, no one will suspect us and we will have a much better chance of winning the kingdom over. Does everyone understand the plan?"

"I have a question." said one of the Koopa troops. "How did you find out so much about the layout of the castle?"

"Well, soldier," Bowser said, "I was able to steal the blueprints for the castle during its construction almost four years ago. No one even knew I was there, because I had disguised myself as a foreigner and they thought I was just one of the people that worked there. Any other questions?"

The room went silent again.

"This meeting is now over." Bowser said. "Prepare the airships! We will be heading towards the Mushroom Kingdom in less than twenty minutes!"

Everyone exited the room and headed for the airship launching area to get ready for what would become the most ingenious evil plan to rock the Mushroom Kingdom in recorded history…

Bowser has just announced to his troops that the king has died. However, there is no indication that he was behind his death and that it was part of his evil plan. However, he does remain an obvious suspect. He was supposedly at the king's castle when it was being constructed, but disguised as a foreigner. But does that mean he murdered the king? After all, he probably could've destroyed the castle if he really wanted to. But he didn't...