The Mario Bros. and the K. Kid Trio walked back into Turtilko Square for the fourth time that day, still without a trace of Bowser.

"Wow, Turtilko's bigger than I expected," Green K. Kid said, "And almost everyone's really worked up, hostile even! I'm guessing that it's because Mr. Bowser's gone missing."

"Y'know, this kinda reminds of those Pokemon spinoff games we played once or twice!" Red K. Kid said to his peers, "Everyone's gone mad and we're the only sane ones left to save 'em. What were those games called again?"

Green and Blue K. Kid shrugged.

As they approached the other side of the square, they heard a voice yell out, "Come back 'ere, you two rascals!"

The voice belonged to an elderly Hammer Bro., who was shaking his fist as two figures ran out of his store with sacks over their shoulders.

"Hey bro, I think one of those two was Popple. We should go see what the problem is," Luigi said with concern.

"You think?" Mario questioned.

"Yeah," Luigi said with a hint of bluntness.

The K. Kid Trio raced over to the Hammer Bro.

"Come on, Mr. Mario and Mr. Luigi!" Red K. Kid called out.

Mario and Luigi ran over to the K. Kid Trio and the Hammer Bro.

"Hello sir what seems to be the problem sir?" Red K. Kid said loudly.

"Ah, hello to you too," the Hammer Bro. replied, "Y'see, I was just doin' my work as usual, when all of a sudden, these two hooligans come in and steal my goods!"

"And what sort of goods do you sell?" Blue K. Kid asked, his eyes narrowed, trying to keep in his impatience.

"Hardware," The Hammer Bro. said.

"…You sell computer stuff?" Green K. Kid questioned, "You don't seem like the kind of koopa to sell that kind of thing. No offense, sir."

"No, no, silly! HARDWARE! Like nails and screws and spanners!"

"OHHHHHHHHH," the K. Kid Trio realised in unison.

"Yes, so the hooligans stole my goods. Mostly my hammers," the Hammer Bro. continued.

"And…?" Red K. Kid asked eagerly.

"And they ran off with it! I would go after 'em myself, but it's been awhile since I fought for the Koopa Troop, and with my ol' age, I don't think I could keep up!" the Hammer Bro. explained, "Say, you all look pretty young. Perhaps you could you could go teach those fools a lesson for me? Get back my goods while you're at it, too."

"Sure thing!" Mario quickly said.

"Ah, thank you. The two of 'em went over by the wharf," the Hammer Bro. said, pointing north.

"Okie dokie! We'll be on our way!" Mario said, making his way to the wharf. The K. Kid Trio quicky caught up, while Luigi trailed behind.


The two thieves kneeled on the sand by the wharf, resting their sacks on the ground.

"Okay, Rookie, this is how it goes—"

"Can you stop calling me Rookie, please? I have a name."

"Shut it, Rookie! I'm explaining our plan, see?" Popple told 'Rookie' angrily.

'Rookie' sighed with defeat. "Fine," he mumbled through his bandana.

"This is how it goes: We go over to the ferry and knock the ticket guys—"

"Don't the 'ticket guys' have an actual name?"

Popple facepalmed. "Just let me explain the plan!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" 'Rookie' said with panic.

"We go over to the ferry and knock the ticket guys out. Then we go onto the ferry, but somewhere where we won't be found."

"But we're a pair of thieves, don't you think—"

"SHUT UP ROOKIE!"

'Rookie' stayed quiet, his eyes wide with fear.

Popple sighed, trying to calm himself. "AS I WAS SAYING. The we go onto the ferry, but somewhere where we won't be found. Namely, the toilets."

'Rookie' looked at Popple with doubt.

"Trust me, Rookie, they'll never suspect a thing, see? Then we wait until the ferry arrives at Sarasaland, then we sell these in the black market!"

'Rookie' doubted Popple more.

"Now, there's these two punks in red and green that could screw things up. They might come and find us, see? So, what do we do if they come? Well, let me tell you. If they come, we attack them, see?"

"Wh-What? Why?"

"We can't have anyone tellin' the police see?"

'Rookie' thought momentarily before asking, "But if you're talking about who I think you're talking about, wouldn't they have more power than the police? If the Darklands even have police?"

Popple growled, "Rookie, what did I say."

"Sh-Shut up," 'Rookie' stammered.

Popple continued, "Then once we beat the 'shrooms out of them, we get on the ferry! Easy as pie, see?"

'Rookie' just nodded.

As if on que, the Mario Bros. and K. Kid Trio arrived at the wharf to see the two thieves. They looked at each other with blank stares.

Luigi finally spoke up, stammering, "N-N-Nabbit? Wh-What are you doing w-with-? I thought-"

Nabbit said nothing. He was too scared to say anything.

Popple quickly jumped to his feet, and Nabbit followed suit as well as he could, stumbling slightly as he got up. The pair grabbed their sacks and Popple ordered loudly, "Rookie, so what I told you to do! Now, ATTACK!"

Popple and Nabbit charged at the bros., starting a battle.

Popple turned his back the Mario Bros. and walked up to them. The bros. readied their hammers as he approached. Popple swiftly turned around and ran at Mario, nabbing his hammer.

"Ha! Now that I've got your hammer, there's no way we'll lose, see?" Popple declared.

Mario and Luigi braced themselves for the next attack. Nabbit ran up to Mario and jumped twice on his head before scuttling back to Popple's side.

Mario ran at Popple and jumped on his head. He was going to try and do a quintuple jump, but he fumbled and messed up on the second jump, causing him to fall on his back on the sand. He pushed himself up and ran back over to where he stood.

Luigi ran up to Popple and attempted to on jump on his head, but Popple quickly pulled out Mario's stolen hammer and hit back down to the ground with it.

"How did is he okay from that?" Blue K. Kid questioned.

"Mmmmmagic," Red K. Kid replied, making a rainbow gesture with his hands.

Popple ran up to Luigi and whacked him with the hammer he stole once again, putting Luigi on the verge of low HP. After he was done, he ran back to his position.

"Let me see if I can do this…" Nabbit mumbled meekly. He turned his back to the Mario Bros. and walked up to them. Luigi readied his hammer, while Mario crossed his fingers and hoped that Nabbit didn't aim for him. Unfortunately, Nabbit aimed for Mario. He ran at the red-clad plumber, but tripped and fell. Mario sighed with relief as Nabbit ran back to Popple's side.

"Ugh, Rookie! You've been practicing that move for ages, how can you still not get it?!" Popple exclaimed angrily.

"I-I'm sorry, Popple, it's just that this is my first battle, and—"

Popple facepalmed as he sighed, "Whatever. Next turn, we use it,see?"

Nabbit nodded reluctantly.

Mario reached into his pocket and held out a Mushroom, then threw it over to Luigi, who caught it with his mouth. He chewed it up and swallowed, restoring almost all of his HP.

Luigi ran up to Popple and tried to jump on his head again, but was knocked down by Popple's- well, Mario's- hammer.

Popple flung his sack to the sidelines and proceeded to do a handstand. Nabbit picked up his legs and spun around multiple times before flinging him away. Popple curled up into a ball as he shot towards Luigi, who didn't quite ready his hammer in time to knock him away. Popple smashed into the younger brother, knocking down a half of his remaining HP, bringing him down to low HP. Once Popple had landed, admittedly quite roughly, he stood up and jogged back over to his sack and slung it back over his shoulder.

Green K. Kid looked over at Popple and Nabbit with awe, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open. Red K. Kid was shocked, but not as much as Green. Blue K. Kid was more concernec about Luigi, though.

Blue K. Kid rummaged through the bros.' inventory and pulled a mushroom that was collected from the last battle with Popple. He made a small signal to Luigi before throwing the mushroom to him. Luigi ate said mushroom and regained almost all of his HP.

Green K. Kid was finally able to collect himself, and shouted, "Did you see that, Red?!"

"Are you kidding? Of course I did!" Red K. Kid replied just as loud.

"Heheh, how'd you like that? That there was our Bros. Attack, see?" Popple declared.

Nabbit leaned over to Popple and whispered, "I thought you weren't meant to tell them that."

Popple's eyes widened with surprise.

"Uh, forget I said any of that!" he yelped quickly, waving his hand rapidly in front of him.

"They used a BROS. ATTACK?!" Green K. Kid shouted even louder.

"Right in my ear, bro," Red K. Kid grumbled, rubbing the left side of his head.

Mario ran up to Nabbit and jumped on his head three times before messing up again.

"Might be losing my mojo…" he mumbled under his breath as he ran back.

"Luigi!" Blue K. Kid yelled.

Luigi looked over at Blue K. Kid, who advised, "I think that if you try to jump on Popple again, you're just gonna get knocked down again. Hit him with your hammer."

Luigi gave Blue K. Kid a thumbs up before running up to Popple and hitting him with his hammer, forcing Mario's stolen hammer out of Popple's sack, as well as a few other items, including some of the Hammer Bro.'s stock. The K. Kid Trio scrabbled over to collect these.

"I bet those two think they're so cool, using a Bros. Attack," Blue K. Kid grumbled to his peers with annoyance, rolling his eyes at Popple and Nabbit. That gave Mario an idea… But it would have to wait until later.

Popple reached into his sack and threw small hammers at the bros., most of which were likely stolen from the Hammer Bro. Most of these hammers were jumped over, but some managed to hit the plumbers.

Nabbit turned his back to Mario and Luigi and walked up to them. Mario and Luigi readied their hammers. Nabbit turned around and ran at Luigi, but tripped right at the last second and dealt damage in the form of accidentally toppling over Luigi.

"Well, it's something," Popple muttered under his breath.

"Hey, Popple! We can play that game too!" Mario said bravely.

"…Game?" Popple questioned. His eyes slowly widened with fear. "He doesn't mean what I think he means, does he?"

He glanced over at Luigi and asked, "You ready, bro?"

"You betcha!" Luigi replied enthusiastically.

Mario and Luigi lined up, Luigi being the one in front and Mario being about a metre behind him. Luigi bent down, waiting for Mario.

"Go for Nabbit!" Mario shouted, waving a hand. Mario ran up to Luigi and jumped off him in a leap-frog style, twirling around in the air. Luigi ran up to Nabbit and did almost star-like pose. Mario landed back down on Luigi and jumped off his shoulders. Nabbit glanced up at the now approaching Mario with fear as he spun down on him like a drill, inflicting a fair bit of damage. The force of the blow pushed Nabbit into the sand, leaving him stuck there.

"Oh geez," Nabbit said simply.

"For a minute I thought that wouldn't work!" Mario said with relief, "It's been so long since we've used that one!"

"Looks like I'm fighting alone now…" Popple mumbled. "But there's no worries, see? I've got hammers!" he declared, instantly perking up.

He reached into his sack and threw small hammers at bros. once again. Like last time, most of these hammers were jumped over.

"I'm…out of hammers. Well, surplus, see?" Popple said with slight concern.

"Alright, Mr. Mario and Mr. Luigi, time to deal the final blows!" Red K. Kid cheered.

Mario ran up to Popple and hit him with his hammer, while Luigi jumped on his head.

Popple fell to his knees. "Urk… You two are more tough than I first though, see?"

He slowly turned himself around to face Nabbit. He pushed himself to his feet, grabbed one of Nabbit's large ears and pulled him out of the sand.

"Owwwwwww," Nabbit moaned, the that was pulled flopping down from the pain.

"Now," Blue K. Kid said hardly, "You stole some stuff from that hardware store over there, didn't you?"

Nabbit mumbled, "Yes—"

"NOPE!" Popple suddenly interrupted. "NO WE DID NOT, SEE?"

"Wow. That…was a terrible lie," Green K. Kid said, his eyebrows raised.

"Now hand over the hardware!" Red K. Kid demanded.

"Oh, fine!" Popple huffed, rolling his eyes angrily. He reached into his sack and handed over the rest of the Hammer Bro.'s hardware.

"And now we retreat, see? C'mon, Rookie!"

Popple and Nabbit limped away slowly.

Mario handed the elderly Hammer Bro. his goods.

"Thanks lads," the Hammer Bro. said.

"No problem, sir!" Green K. Kid replied cheerfully.

"We're here looking for Mr. Bowser, since you were probably wondering, sir," Red K. Kid explained to the Hammer Bro.

"Ah, so that's why you two Mario Bros. are here," the Hammer Bro. replied. "Just a warnin', it gets lot tougher the further you go into the Darklands. Not to mention everyone's gone Swoop-poop crazy. In short, watch out fer yourselves, okay?"

"Will do!" Mario said.

"That's the spirit," the Hammer Bro. chuckled. "See you!"

"Bye!" Red K. Kid shouted, waving as he walked backwards with the rest of the trio and the Mario Bros.