Chapter 9

The end of the exit faded out and revealed a long and wide hallway. A long red carpet led to Bowser's black throne with spikes on the top frame. The grey stone walls had stained glass windows of Bowser's insignia on them. And finally, the menacing Koopa King himself sat on his throne with one leg thrown over the knee of the other.

Bowser stood up from his throne. "Ha. Ha. Ha... looks like you two made it. I'm surprised you were able to climb this high."

"I'm surprised to see you off your fat ass!" Waluigi yelled.

My eyes widened at his comment: sure, it was justified, but still, it sounded so wrong at the same time.

"Yeah," I said, my head bobbing up and down, "what he said!"

Bowser stood there with his claws resting underneath his snout.

Recognizing the awkward silence, I demanded answers. "Where's Mario and my friends?!"

Bowser didn't answer.

"Looks like we'll have to beat it out of him," Waluigi deadpanned.

I shrugged. "Or stick a finger up his ass."

Waluigi chuckled. "Yeah, that too," he said with a smirk. He jumped around in place and stretched. "C'mon, Luigi, lets get 'em already."

"Lets," I said as we both ran towards his throne.

Bowser didn't even flinch an inch. He glared at us, boredom in his eyes, and waited for us to reach his throne. Once we did, however, he pushed off his throne and lunged at us with his claws. Waluigi and I skidded to a halt and darted out of his path, leaving the Koopa King to skid across the red carpet.

The carpet wrinkled as Bowser slid across it, and Waluigi and I gave chase. I jumped high in the air, while Waluigi kept on his feet. Bowser glanced above him and saw me. My feet pounced his head. I landed to the side and saw Bowser rolling his head with his pupils going around in circles.

Poor thing, did I hit him too hard? I might've, but Waluigi would hit him harder. He ran after the dazed Koopa King with his fist cocked back. Bowser stood up and shook his head, just to be knocked to the red carpet again by Waluigi's fist hitting his snout.

"Argh..." he growled, holding his snout. "Give me a chance here..."

I took out my hammer. "Never!" I flung it behind me and dashed towards him.

Bowser glanced behind him, probably wished he hadn't at that point, then he got smacked in the face by my hammer.

Down to the red carpet once more, Bowser drew in heavy breaths. He laid his arms on the red carpet, outstretched, and exhaled.

"Waluigi!" I turned to my boyfriend, who stood by Bowser's exhausted body.

"What?" he asked.

"Give him a chance," I whispered, pointing towards Bowser, "this is pathetic..."

"I know," Waluigi mouthed back. Good thing Bowser couldn't hear us, because a few seconds later he slowly came back to his feet, albeit a bit beaten up, but back to his feet, nonetheless.

Bowser roared, causing the whole floor to shake. He then clasped his hands together and slammed them against the ground. This created a white shockwave of energy, and Waluigi and I jumped up to dodge it.

"Is that all you got, Bowser?" I mocked.

He growled in response and rushed at me when I landed from my jump. As I saw him charging, Waluigi slid in front of me and kicked the Koopa King in the torso. He fell back and skidded along the ground: his spikes screeched against the stone.

Bowser lied on his shell for awhile, Waluigi and I exchanged glances and waited for him to get back up. He wriggled around but didn't get back up. His arms and legs shuttered, stopping after moving mere inches, then they moved again.

As I drew closer towards Bowser's body flailing around, all of a sudden, his arms and legs disconnected from his body. They sprang outward and stopped, but Bowser began to spin around in his shell. This caused the dismembered limbs to follow along with it, creating a twister of Bowser's own body parts.

He headed our way, and I found myself automatically stepping backwards preparing to flee. Waluigi followed me when I ran away from the frantic limbs raging towards our direction. I didn't blame him: Bowser somehow transformed into an even stranger monster.

"What's going on?!" I yelled to Waluigi as we ran to the safety of the throne.

"I don't know!" he shouted back, glancing at Bowser for a split second.

When we reached the throne, Waluigi and I clambered up to the top of throne, grasping the spikes like we were hugging each other. I wished really , since we were hanging up here, Bowser's limbs couldn't reach us when they neared our position.

The Koopa King's limbs retracted back to their original places, and we took our only chance to jump back down. Waluigi and I nodded and jumped over Bowser together. We both landed on his torso, but instead of him caving inward, the torso was rock hard, maybe he flexed his abs or something. We ended up falling off his torso and landed back on the ground.

Bowser stood up. "Ha. Ha. Ha! Do you like my hardened torso?!"

"What's going on?!" I turned to Waluigi, but he shrugged in response.

Bowser smirked. "Try something else... I'm sure Papa would love to see how stupid you look right now!... oops... I mean, uhh..."

"Did you hear that, Waluigi?" I asked him with a smirk.

"Yeah, Luigi, this Bowser isn't the real deal!"

"Let's show him what we do to fakers!"

"Be my guest!" Waluigi nodded with a grin.

He ran to the side of the fake Bowser, while I kept him busy with random movements and attacks. Once Waluigi was in position, he grabbed the tail and began to gain momentum for a swing. I ran near a wall and held my palm out: light blue thunder crackled above my palm. "Time to give this Bowser a shocking surprise..." I pulled my hand back and slightly covered it with my free hand. The thunder energy escalated inside the little cage I created in my hands, and I waited for Waluigi to have enough speed so he could throw the fake Bowser my way.

After a few more unbearable seconds, the thunder getting out of hand, Waluigi chucked the fake Bowser in my direction. As the fake Bowser hurtled towards me, I jabbed it with my charged thunderhand. The thunder bursted and immediately surrounded him. I swore I could hear some high pitched screams coming from inside the fake Bowser. The head blew off, and a figure shot out of the opening, landing near the black bruised fake Bowser.

"Bowser... Jr.?" I muttered, my eyes widened.

"Where's the real Bowser, runt?!" Waluigi pointed at the imposter.

"Why should I give you guys Papa's location?!"

Waluigi's eye twitched and smoke billowed out of his ears, face burning red. "I didn't just come here to play twenty questions with you! Tell me where he is now before you won't have a 'Papa' to go back to!"

Bowser Jr. squealed and jumped a little above the ground. "Okay! Fine! Papa is in the prison keeping your friends and brother captive! Now please don't hurt me!" Bowser Jr. whistled, calling his own little clown car to come and pick him up. He then flew through one of the stained glass windows, nearly taking our caps off in the process. Shards of glass dropped on our heads; I crouched down and held my hands over my head on instinct. I glanced over to Waluigi, who just stared at me, not even crouching down.

"Safety freak," he said with a chuckle.

"Hey!" I yelled, standing back up, "it pays to be safe, you know!"

"Whatever." Waluigi rolled his eyes. "Lets find that prison before word gets to Bowser that were coming after him."

"Yeah, I'll check the stone bricks, you check the throne."

"Gotcha Eyeballs," Waluigi said with a grin.

I hate it when he calls me that. Regardless, I walked over to the nearest wall and strolled along it with my finger brushing against the rough stone bricks. As I did this, occasionally glancing at Waluigi, I couldn't help but think about why Bowser would send his own son to stop us. Or, even better, maybe Bowser couldn't face us himself, or maybe he just wanted to stall for time! I couldn't think of a reason no matter how much I put my mind to it.

However, when I finished one wall, Waluigi called me over to the throne, saying he found something.

"What did you find, Wally?" I asked as I held my face close to his.

He shoved my face away. "Not so close! Anyway, see this flat grey square on the side here?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn't make sense with anything else on the throne, which means it could be a switch."

"A switch leading to a trap!" I suggested.

"No!" Waluigi facepalmed. "Meaning, it could lead to a hidden passageway! Possibly to the prison!"

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed. "It could still be a trap, though," I muttered, turning my head. To my dismay, Waluigi pressed the square, and nothing happened.

"I don't get it!" Waluigi fumed, throwing both hands to his hips. He stomped over to the front of the throne. "I don't see why this isn't a- Wah!" A trap door opened underneath him, and he fell down with a scream.

"Waluigi!" I called out to him as I reached my hand out. It was too late, he already fell in, but I went in after him, not even knowing how long the drop would be.

It didn't feel that long, and I fell on my two feet seconds later. Dim black hallways were on either side of me, including Waluigi rubbing his bum on one of the sides.

"You okay, Wally?"

"Yeah," he replied, still rubbing his bum, "where are we?"

I shrugged. "Beats me."

"Lets hurry up and find your brother and friends and get the hell outta here!"

"I agree," I said as I glanced down both hallways. "Which way?"

"Wanna split up?"

I rolled my eyes. "That never works... lets just go that way." I pointed towards the hallway that had a corridor turning right.

We strolled down that hallway. However, I noticed some disfigured shadows bobbing around the corner, and I immediately gestured for Waluigi to run back. Several guards, Goombas to be exact, took off at us the second we were spotted. Waluigi and I scrambled towards the other hallway, with a corridor turning left.

As we rounded the corridor, yet another long hallway awaited us, and even more Goomba guards charged at us from the other side. I couldn't stand being cornered like this: the only way out is to fight these pathetic Bowser baddies!

And I know just the way to breeze past them. I crouched forward and scrunched my fists close to my body. Smoke billowed behind me as I charged up as much explosive energy I could.

Waluigi knew what I was doing, and he couldn't help but laugh. "So you're going to mow them down with your Weegee Missile?"

I nodded and counted down. "Three, two, one!" I rocketed towards the unexpecting Goomba guards.

Like a bowling ball, my missile decimated the Goomba guards as if they were pins. I paved the way for Waluigi to get through, and we continued down the hallway: the Goomba guards still chased us from behind. We turned down another corridor and saw a double sided grey door. Immediately, we tore the door open, and then we were greeted by a large, expansive cafeteria, almost duller than Bowser's decorative taste. Grey round tables scattered about, an open windowed counter for serving guests, and several guards were planted in this room. I don't why, but no other prisoners sat in the cafeteria at all. I bet Mario and my friends weren't even allowed in here. All the guards widened their eyes with excitement when we entered the room, and Bowser had the decency to give us some different guards this time around.

Koopa Troopas wore black uniforms with gold badges, while the Goomba Guards only had batons and caps. These Koopa Troopas weren't that tough looking: they didn't even have a baton. However, when they all stared at Waluigi and I, fear trickled down our spines as did a few sweat drops.

"Uh, Waluigi... should we run?"

"We got other guards behind us too! I say we just plow through 'em!"

I faced Waluigi. "Like with those Goomba Guards back there?"

He nodded.

"Alright then, lets try something different instead."

"No Weegee missile?" he asked.

"Nope," I said with a smirk. "I have a better idea."

I ran to the left of the room, alarming the guards, and weaved in and out of the grey tables. Waiting in the corner of the room for them to chase after me, I gestured for Waluigi to go around the group of guards when they had me surrounded. In no time flat, the guards pinned me down, inching closer every second.

However, I had a plan, and that plan was Waluigi, who put himself in position behind the guards. When the Koopa Troopas were about to snatch me, I yelled, "Now!" And Waluigi sprang into action.

"Hey bozos!" Waluigi shouted as he waved his arms about. Did You forget about me? Bowser isn't going to be pleased if you only catch one of us..."

The Koopa Troopas left me in the corner and went after Waluigi. He backed up in a corner as well, but when the guards were about to nab him, Waluigi darted out of the corner and ran for the exit. I followed him towards the grey double sided door at the end of the cafeteria, but our shoes skidded to halt when two Magikoopa magically emerged out of thin air, right in front of our escape route. They wore red garments, along with black cooking aprons and white pointed caps to signify their chef positions. Looks like my plan had holes, and I didn't think that there would possibly be any other Bowser baddies in the kitchen.

The Magikoopas began to conjure up a spell, and Waluigi and I ducked. However, after a coupled seconds, we glanced up and found piles of prison food over our heads.

"Uh oh..." we said in unison as pounds of food splattered on our faces and clothes.

I wiped my eyes and stood up. "Ugh, this prison food is worse than Daisy's when she tried to cook for me!"

Waluigi stood up as well. "She cooked for you?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, its a long story, right now we need to find some cover!"

"Damn right you do!" One Magikoopa said as he summoned more schlop to throw at us. I squealed and took Waluigi's hand as I ran towards the counter leading to the kitchen. We hopped over it and crouched behind some chipped white cabinets begging for repair. I felt tempted to open them, but Waluigi slapped my hand away and pointed behind me.

A buffet of unopened packages with food in them lied on a rectangular white counter behind us. A smirk grew on our faces. We snatched the packages, ripped them open, and stocked up as much as we could behind the counter. When we had enough, Waluigi and I threw bread, broccoli, handfuls of gravy, and spoiled milk at the guards. The only people fighting back were the two Magikoopas. Koopa Troopas were covered in milk, gravy, and bread crumbs, for some reason, they tried their best to avoid the broccoli. I hated broccoli like the rest of the population, but getting touched by broccoli isn't that bad. It is to these Koopa Troopas, though.

After the minor food fight, Waluigi and I peeked over the counter to check the damages. Each guard had been bombarded with food, and they had dazed expressions on their faces. Some even began to lick, pick, and eat the food off of themselves. Looks like Bowser doesn't feed his army too often, that bastard. The two red Magikoopas that gave us trouble earlier were sitting on the floor, food splattered on their robes. They used each other's back to prop themselves upright. One had its glasses dangling on its beak. With a victory under our belts and territory taken over, Waluigi and I moved onward towards the next hallway.

This one had several cells spaced out in both walls, each not being very large and only capable of holding two prisoners at best. Most of the cells we strolled past were empty, it was like the only prisoners Bowser ever cared about having trapped in here were Mario and my friends. With the exception of me, of course, however, he probably thought I died already. Either that or he just couldn't find me. Waluigi and I continued down the hallway in silence, mostly due to concentration. If I weren't trying to find any clues of my brother's whereabouts, then I would gladly chat with my boyfriend. Unfortunately, now is not the time.

Cell after cell and still no signs of life: not even the guards got up and chased us down this hallway. Maybe they were too caught up in eating up the leftovers? I'm glad they chose not to, or else I wouldn't have time to search for...

Hold up, was that Mario and my friends? I took a few steps back and glanced towards the cell to my left.

There they were.

Waluigi already tried to break the bars, not even noticing the card reader used to open the damn thing. I walked up to the cell and stared at my brother: he had dirt smothered over his face and clothes, and all he could mutter were dry croaks. The others weren't looking too hot either, all of them had lost a considerable amount of weight. Mario barely had a round belly anymore, and Yoshi's plump belly had been reduced to flatness. Peach and Daisy... well, they got thinner, like boney thinner. Since they were thin already. None of them could speak, all of them glared at the both of us, probably dying to get out of the cell.

I used my thunderhand to short circuit the electronic locking mechanism on the card reader to open it. Waluigi and I rushed in: he grabbed the others, while I held Mario in my arms, silent tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Mario..." I muttered.

"Lui-gi..." Mario mumbled, his voice dry and hoarse.

"I was worried about you."

Mario nodded. "Same here..." he muttered after a few hoarse coughs.

I glanced at Waluigi who had Yoshi and Daisy out of the cell. He reached for Peach before I turned my head back to Mario. A tear tumbled down his cheek as he stared into my eyes.

"I'll get you guys some food and water, alright? We'll get out of here together."

He nodded again.

I stood up and turned towards Waluigi, who had all of the others now outside of the cell. "Hey, Wally, watch over all of them, I'm going to find some water and food."

"Alright, be quick, these guys looks like they're about to croak and die."

"I know, I'll be quick, I promise," I replied, walking out of the cell. I almost leaned in to give Waluigi a quick peck on the lips, but then I realized none of them knew I currently dated my rival. So, I retracted and played it cool, running down the hall towards the cafeteria again. Mario's rugged face burned in my mind as I hastened my pace down the hall.

Back at the cafeteria, I noticed that all of the guards left; the food fight remains were still sprawled across the floors and walls. I hoped there would be enough food and water in the kitchen for them. Not to mention for Waluigi and I, we haven't eaten in awhile either. We were used to it, however, but Mario and my friends were accustomed to eating at least six meals a day. My hands rummaged through the white cabinets, grabbing every last water bottle and packages of food I could carry. I even resorted to stuffing some in my overalls.

Afterwards, I ran back to the cell and let the gang restore their energy with food and water. I made sure everyone else had food first, before Waluigi and I could eat. That way, the most important people wouldn't be left out. Luckily, the food had been enough for all of them, leaving a few packages and a couple of water bottles for us. We all stuffed our faces like pigs that have been neglected by their owners. In a strange way, Mario and my friends were probably treated that way.

The food tasted great, despite it being prison bread, gravy, and broccoli. When you're hungry, you'll eat anything. I even somehow enjoyed the broccoli, as did everyone else. We waited around for a bit to recuperate. After some time had passed, probably a half hour, Mario jumped up all of a sudden.

"Hey Luigi, what are we waiting for? We got a Koopa King to clobber!" he yelled.

"Yeah! Is everyone ready?!" I glanced around at all of their faces but halted my gaze at Daisy, who immediately noticed and looked away. With Daisy being the last to stand up, everybody stretched and prepared to get moving again. I couldn't help but notice Daisy glaring at me while she thought I wasn't looking.

I wonder if she's mad at me or something?: I rescued her didn't I? With Waluigi and I leading the pack, we headed down the hall to where I hoped led to the security office, and where I thought Bowser would be too. I felt an uneasy tension behind me, as if somebody glowered right into my soul.

I looked behind me, and Daisy had her eyes set on mine, with her brows furrowed as if she was studying me. Turning my head back in front of me, I glanced at Waluigi with a frown, then gulped down a huge clump of air. It felt stiff and tense.

Just like Daisy's glare.

AN: Hoohoo! Daisy's got a problem with Luigi! I wonder what it is? O_o and man, what a fun chapter to write! A small food fight, some Weegee missile action, and a nice a little reunion made for a fun chapter! I feel bad that I'm announcing this but... the next chapter, is the END people. :C I know, you're probably like... WHAAATT? Right? :P Anyway, I'd just like to give a shout out to everyone that has read this story, you guys/gals have been such a great motivation for me. I appreciate the reviews(and those of you who just read but didn't review) it means the world to me that I could impact your lives a little bit with this story. Anyway, next chapter is the end, so I'll have a little speech and surprise at the end, see you there :D