Chapter 9:

Kevin pointed his wand towards a series of fallen pieces of rock and fired a blast of magic from his wand. The burst of geometric shapes released by his wand struck the blocks and the series of bricks immediately transformed into Koopa Troopas with yellow shells, twelve in all. Since these Koopa Troopas were merely animated bricks, zombies by any real definition, they did not have the intelligence to retreat into their shells and become invincible to most of the attacks that Mario could launch against them. In addition, they were not enhanced with any speed or strength increases. In essence, they were normal, yellow-shelled Koopa Troopas with no intelligence, programmed to serve at the whims of their creator. They were nothing more than organic robots. They did not even have any weapons to attack the plumber with. Kevin had animated these Koopas as a screen to protect him from Mario's fireballs as he counterattacked the plumber. In that, the Koopas did a fine job. The Koopa Troopas formed ranks in front of Kevin, four Koopas in each line.

Mario proceeded to fire a volley of fireballs towards Kevin and his shield of yellow-shelled Koopa Troopas. The first of the fireballs struck the Koopa Troopas and reduced them to ashes with single hits. However, for each Koopa that fell, the others took up the fallen Koopa's place, allowing Kevin to cast a magic spell. His wand head first glowed orange, then blue, and finally white as he then pointed it towards Mario. Mario danced away from the spot he was occupying just as the prince opened fire with a blast of magical plasma. The entire remaining line of Koopas were instantly incinerated as the blast of plasma burned through them and streaked towards Mario's position. Fortunately, for the plumber, he abandoned his position quickly enough to avoid Kevin's blast. The blast of plasma burned a large furrow into the ground as it traveled, eventually dissipating twenty meters away, after Kevin noticed that neither Mario, nor any of his allies were in the flight path of the blast.

Mario quickly took cover behind a wall as he looked over at Kevin, his wand head still glowing white, ready to fire another powerful blast of plasma. He was surprised that Kevin was going the raw power route, rather than using more precise strikes like the ones he used in their first battle. The Koopa Prince found Mario hiding behind the stone wall that was the border for a stairwell that would take one to the top of the first layer of walls of the castle. The prince fired another plasma blast, towards Mario. He dove behind the wall, barely dodging the plasma blast, as it struck the wall and melted it into lava upon impact. Mario then emerged from cover and took a few potshots at the Koopa Prince, managing to score a lucky hit on him. Kevin grunted as he took the fireball straight to the chest, which forced him to stagger backwards a few steps. Another volley of fireballs soon came from Mario and streaked towards the prince. Kevin quickly raised a shield over himself in order to protect him from the furious assault, but the shield was quickly being worn down by Mario's fireball volley as it sustained repeated blows. With each hit, the shield glowed an electric blue, but it was clear that the shield was suffering significant damage with each hit and the Koopa Prince knew that it would not hold out for long against this onslaught. This forced the Koopa Prince to find cover, himself, so he would not suffer further damage. He quickly dove to the opposite end of the wall, with a second wall separating the two combatants, keeping them from seeing each other from behind the first wall. As Kevin took cover, he said to himself, "Darn, he's tough." He was beginning to see just why Mario was such a dangerous opponent. While Mario's Fire Flower power-up was not his most powerful superpower, it was one of his most dangerous, for the fireballs he was unleashing upon the Koopa Prince were powerful enough to hurt him should he take a hit. Even his father would take damage from direct hits from these fireballs. Kevin soon emerged from cover once more and fired another blast of plasma at Mario, just as Mario emerged from cover and fired another volley of fireballs towards him. When they both saw each other, they fired off their attacks and quickly ducked back behind cover, neither one inflicting any damage to the other.

Meanwhile, over near Bowser, the Koopalings went over to their father and helped flip him over so he could rejoin the fight, the Koopa King moaning as they flipped him over, due to his cracked ribs. After flipping over, Bowser struggled to rise, the pain in his chest making any sort of action a chore. Once he managed to stand, glanced around to see where the fighting was. He saw Kevin and Mario shooting plasma pulses and fireballs at each other from behind cover and noticed that neither one was really making any headway on the other. That was when Bowser, his other children, and a group of Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and Koopatrols went over to assist Kevin in killing Mario, for despite the pain he was in, he felt that he needed to have a hand in the demise of the Mario Brothers. They were making their way over and about to join Kevin when a series of shooting stars rained down upon Bowser, the Koopalings, and the others. The stars were more than powerful enough to kill the lot of the Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and Koopatrols, but only did relatively minor damage to the Koopalings and Bowser. Still, Bowser grunted with each hit, which happened to be scored on his chest. As soon as the assault was finished, Bowser and his children went over to try to support Kevin when Vivian and Bow appeared in front of them, cutting them off from the Koopa Prince. "Out of our way, stupid ghosts," the Koopa King commanded authoritatively. "It's Mario we want."

"Not a chance," Bow and Vivian responded in unison. Vivian then twirled her fingers in the air and Bowser and his children erupted into flames. The Fiery Jinx was not powerful enough to kill the Koopalings, but it was strong enough to cause them to stop them from assisting Kevin and force them to face down the two of them. They knew, though, that Bowser and the Koopalings would be too much for them to defeat on their own, but they would not be alone for much longer, for Luigi appeared and jumped on Ludwig, causing the Koopaling to retreat into his shell. Despite the small spikes protruding from the shell, Luigi was able to kick Ludwig towards Bowser, sending him barreling into Bowser Jr., Lemmy, and Roy in the process. The others had to dive out of the way of the oncoming Ludwig. Eventually, the second oldest Koopaling collided with Bowser in his ribcage, knocking the Koopa King off his feet and inflicting even more damage to the broken ribs. Bowser gave loud roar of pain as he was knocked down. Ludwig ricocheted off of Bowser and his momentum slowed. Eventually, he emerged from his shell and turned to face down Luigi, who had come to support Bow and Vivian.

Luigi then turned to the two spirits and told them, "Goombella and the others need your help."

"Got it," Bow answered as she proceeded to head over to the captives, who were about to be executed by the numerous guards that had formed a circle around the allies.

Vivian, however, did not move. "You can't take on the Koopalings and Bowser at the same time," she called back to the green clad plumber. "You'll need my help."

Luigi disagreed. "Bowser's not exactly in pristine condition at the moment," the plumber noted when Bowser managed to stand, despite the pain, and unleash a stream of fire towards Luigi, along with the rest of the Koopalings launching a volley of magical blasts towards him. Wasting no time, Vivian rushed to grab Luigi and pull him in the shadows, barely managing to grab him and pull him in when Bowser's flames and the Koopalings' magical blasts converged on their position. The collision with the ground generated a massive explosion that expanded to about thirty meters in diameter. Even Mario and Kevin had to retreat further into their cover in order to avoid the blast. After the blast had dissipated, Bowser fell to one knee and held his ribcage. He and the others looked on and, seeing nothing, grinned in satisfaction.

"Well, that's one Mario Brother and ally, dead," he commented breathing heavily, as he proceeded rise so he go and assist his oldest son in fighting Mario. As he and his children began to make their way towards Mario, though, Luigi emerged from the shadows, as did Vivian. Their appearance shocked Bowser and the others.

"But, how?" they asked in shock. "The blasts of magic were powerful enough to vaporize the two of you!"

Luigi and Vivian merely gave knowing smiles in reply. They did not want to reveal their secret at this time, despite the fact that Bowser and the Koopalings should have been able to figure out how Luigi and Vivian had survived their attacks. Luigi then reached into his pocket and fingered his Hammer Suit. He then pulled it out and transformed into Hammer Luigi. A black Koopa shell appeared on his back along with a black helmet appearing on his head. Luigi then produced a metal hammer with a black, clawed head and tossed it over to Mario. Mario heard the hammer land near him and he went over and picked it up, knowing that it would be useful against Kevin should he have to engage the Koopa Prince in close combat, despite the fact that that was the one thing he wanted to avoid at all costs. Luigi then looked back at the Koopalings and grinned confidently. He knew he had a power-up that could give him an edge against Bowser. Still, he knew that even with Vivian's help, holding off Bowser and his children would not be a cakewalk.

Over near the platform in the area that was supposed to be an execution arena, Goombella and the other allies of Mario and Luigi were surrounded by countless Koopatrols, Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and other Koopas. As the Koopas approached, sadistic grins could be seen plastered on their faces. "Heh, heh, heh," they laughed. "They've run out of time and help," the Koopas gloated.

Just as the Koopas were gloating, a torrent of yellow shooting stars fell among the Koopas and wiped them out. Each star that collided with a Koopa practically annihilated the Koopa with single hits. The friends looked over and saw Lady Bow floating by them. "Come on everyone," she cried. "Get out of the chains. We've gotta help Mario, and that was my last Shooting Star."

She first helped out Goombario. Once he was freed, he went over and freed Goombella while Vivian then helped out Kooper. Each ally that was freed soon went over to help another. Bombette and Sushie stayed to guard the others while they went to free the other allies. Sure enough, as the others were being freed, a flood of Koopas and Goombas rushed onto the battlefield. Bombette rushed towards the ranks of Koopas and lit her fuse. As she rushed into their ranks, she detonated in a massive explosion. The blast radius of the explosion was at least twenty meters and she blew a massive hole in the ranks of the Koopas. After a few seconds, she regenerated and reappeared on the battlefield, no worse for the wear. The Koopas did not like the looks of that and hesitated for a few seconds before they continued to charge towards the heroes, prompting Bombette to detonate again and annihilate more Koopas.

Sushie, meanwhile, targeted the Goombas and prepared to launch a Tidal Wave towards them. The tidal wave of water formed in front of the Cheep-Cheep and once it was formed, it was released towards the Goombas. Since they had weak defenses, they were no match for the torrent of water that was approaching. The tidal wave fell upon the Goombas and outright crushed several of the front ranks, while washing the others away from the battlefield, drowning many of them. Just as the Goombas were washed away, the last of Mario's allies were freed and were preparing to join Bombette and Sushie in battle. They soon formed ranks alongside the two fighters and stared down an army of Koopas, Goombas, and Lakitus that were approaching. Goombella soon glanced up into the sky and found the Koopa airships and jet fighters beginning to fly low so they could support the ground troops.

Up in the stands, the rest civilians looked on as Mario engaged Kevin, Luigi and Vivian fought Bowser and the Koopalings, and the rest of Mario's allies readied themselves for a battle against the Koopa Air Force. They knew that a battle, possibly the final battle between Bowser and Mario and his allies, was about to break out below them, so they did their best to flee the arena, and also avoid being drafted into the Koopa Troop. The first to evacuate were the Koopas and Goombas that were close to the exits. They were quickly able to duck away from the scene without anyone noticing as the rest of the guards and other military personnel were focusing on the new battlefield below them. Others that tried to duck away, however, were spotted by some of the guards and were quickly pressed into service at the sight of the first wave of Koopas and Goombas being wiped out by Bombette and Sushie, along with Bowser's elite guards being wiped out by Vivian, Bow, and Luigi. Some of the civilians tried to flee anyway, thinking that they had a better chance of survival trying to evade the guards than they did should they be forced to face the Mario Brothers and their allies. A few of the civilians were able to force their way past the first line of guards but were later shot down by the second and third lines of guards. Guards soon emerged from the exits and herded the civilians towards military commanders and members of Bowser's court in order to be deployed against Goombella and her friends. They felt as if Kevin, Bowser, and the other Koopalings could handle Mario, Luigi, and Vivian. Their primary goal was to keep Goombella and the others from being able to support the Marios and Vivian. To that end, they pressed the civilians in the arena into service, all ten thousand plus of them.

Many of the drafted civilians cried as they were given their orders by Kamek, Kammy and several other members of Bowser's court. Some other still attempted to escape, only to be taken by the Koopatrols that were guarding the exits, or set ablaze by the pairs of Fire Bros. that were assigned to do the same. Only when the civilians were actually entering the fray, did the Koopatrols and Fire Bros. join them on the battlefield. When the Fire Bros. and the Koopatrols eventually went down onto the battlefield, they focused their attention towards Goombella and the others, realizing that they were the largest threat at the moment, since Mario and Luigi were currently engaged with Kevin and Bowser and the other Koopalings respectively.

The Koopas quickly charged towards the line of heroes as Goombella turned and saw the vast number of Koopas approaching. The Goomba quickly called back to the others, "Everyone, we've got problems behind us!"

The others turned and saw the fast approaching small army coming towards them. Kooper and Koops noticed that many of the Koopas were civilians that had been pressed into service rather than normal followers of Bowser. They both looked downcast as that realization hit the others as well. Realizing that she was one of the two allies that could deal with the enemy without killing the civilians in the process, Flurrie stepped forward and proceeded to blow a mighty gust of wind towards the oncoming Koopas known as Gale Force. She blew towards them and the approaching horde was stopped in its tracks. The civilians were immediately blown away from the battlefield and close to the outer walls of the castle. Many collided with the walls and were dazed, though their shells prevented them from suffering any more severe injuries. Upon recovering, many civilians took this opportunity to flee the castle grounds and escape the battle.

The Fire Bros., Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., and Koopatrols, however, continued forward, the winds insufficient to halt the advance of most of their ranks. That did not concern the heroes, though, for they had accomplished what they had needed to. Bow soon reappeared and handed items to many of the allies: Thunder Rages, Ice Storms, and even Egg Missiles, Egg Bombs, Coconut Bombs, and a Zess Dynamite. When Bow handed Goombario the Zess Dynamite, he immediately armed it and activated the explosive cake. He tossed it towards the approaching army of Koopas and let it land in their midst as the ghostly image of Zess T. appeared before them. As the cake was flying, the dynamite candles were lit and sparkling. As soon as the cake landed among the enemy, it detonated, engulfing almost one third of the entire attacking force in the blast wave of the explosion. The wave of fire expanded and encompassed many of the Fire Bros., along with several Boomerang Bros., Hammer Bros., and Koopatrols. The blast also sent the bodies of those that were not incinerated by the blast flying towards the others, knocking them down. While the enemy was disoriented, Kooper and Koops retreated into their shells and began to spin. After a few seconds, they launched themselves at the lines of Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. They barreled into the Koopas and knocked them off their feet, continuing on through the entire line. The Koopas had no choice but to try to dive out of the way, and often into one of their comrades, or get plowed over by the onrushing Koopas. More of the enemy forces were either killed or injured in this new attack. Despite the depleting of the enemy Koopa force, though, Goombella and the others knew that they were in for a very long fight as more Koopas, Goombas, and even Lakitus surged towards them from all around the group, many coming through the castle gates. The only good thing was that there were no Magikoopas or Fire Bros. in the picture, so the enemy did not have access to long ranged attacks. Still, Goombella and the others knew that should the reinforcements reach Kevin and Bowser, that Mario, Luigi, and Vivian would not be able to hold against them.

Goombella then rallied the others to her. "To me, everyone. We've got an army coming towards us!"

The others quickly turned towards the sound of her voice. The voice of Lakilester then broke through, asking, "Don't we already have an army to deal with?" He had been busy keeping several waves of Goombas at bay when he heard Goombella's call.

She then pointed to the second approaching enemy force, which looked to be several thousand strong, and Lakilester's eyes went wide. "Oh," he said, his mouth hanging open.

Kooper and Koops looked back and saw the approaching force and they had the same reaction as Lakilester. "We're supposed to hold out against that?" Koops asked, scarcely believing his eyes as more Koopas and Goombas were flooding through the doors and onto the castle grounds.

Goombella nodded. "We have to," she told them. "Mario and Luigi need us to hold out!"

"But without Vivian, I don't know if we can deal with a force like that," Kooper told her.

Goombella looked down somberly for a moment. "I know," she told him. "But we have no choice. This is our only option right now." She then began directing the force. "Okay, Bow, you, Flurrie, and Lakilester get out in front right now. You're the first line of defense. Use your Spook, Gale Force, and Hurricane techniques to scare and blow away as much of the enemy force as possible. Once that's done, Watt, I want you to paralyze as many of the Koopas as possible. Bobbery, toss your Time Bombs among the enemy after the initial attack so that we can take out more of the advancing enemy. After that, everyone else who has a ranged attack or ranged attack item, use it. If we have to retreat a bit, don't worry. We just have to keep them away from Mario and Luigi. If we can do that, we may be able to win this once Mario, Luigi, and Vivian beat Kevin, Bowser, and the Koopalings."

"Right," the rest of the force replied.

Bow, Flurrie, and Lakilester then went to the front of the formation of allies. As the Koopas, Goombas, and Lakitus approached, Bow used her Spook, Flurrie cast her Gale Force, and Lakilester used Hurricane on the enemies. The enemy advance came to a quick halt as they were buffeted not only by hurricane force winds, but also having to stare into the face of a now large and menacing Boo. Many of the Goombas immediately fled from Bow without the need for any assistance from the hurricane force winds being unleashed by Flurrie and Lakilester. Many, however, ran straight into the onrushing ranks of Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. and were run over as a result. Some of the Koopa Troopas, Koopa Paratroopas, were also blown away back towards the castle entrance. Many, however, held their ground and struggled against the hurricane that was unleashed upon them. After a minute or so, Flurrie ran out of breath and Lakilester's Hurricane ran its course. Now, it was time for the second strike.

As Bow, Flurrie, and Lakilester retreated to grab some items with which to make a final stand, Watt floated forward and charged herself up before unleashing a Mega Shock. A wave of electricity was unleashed towards the Koopas as they began to flood towards the heroes once more. As the bolts of lightning emitted from Watt struck them, they were frozen in their tracks, paralyzed, but not killed. Watt then prepared another Mega Shock to unleash against more of the enemy. As she was paralyzing as many of the enemy soldiers as possible, Admiral Bobbery proceeded to produce a trio of small time bombs. He then tossed each of the bombs into the ranks of the enemy. He tossed the first bomb towards the front of the enemy, hoping to give them pause, which he did. After seeing them hesitate, he tossed the other two into the main ranks of the enemy to blow holds in the enemy lines. After a few seconds, the bombs exploded, incinerating several Koopa Troopas, and sending others flying in all directions. Even a few Koopa Paratroopas were taken down by Bobbery's attack.

After seeing the success of the initial attacks, Goombella then cried, "Okay everyone, let 'em have it!"

With that, all of the allies that had items began to use them. Goombella was the first to attack with an Ice Storm that she unleashed towards the onrushing Koopa Troopas. A blizzard of icy winds and snowflakes assaulted the Koopa Troopas and covered them with ice. The blizzard, alone, was enough to freeze them solid and inflict fatal damage to the Koopas, which were now merely frozen statues. Soon after, Yoshi Kid used a Thunder Rage and unleashed it towards a flight group of about forty-eight Lakitus. The Lakitus were caught off guard as Yoshi Kid held up the lightning bolt symbol of the Thunder Rage high into the air and proceeded to unleash a storm of lightning upon the cloud-riding enemies. The lightning bolts struck each and every Lakitu in the flight group, one after the other. The Lakitus' clouds were dispersed by the lightning and those that had not been killed by the lightning strikes, themselves, were likely killed by the subsequent falls. Mr. Mowz followed up Yoshi Kid's attack with one of her own; again, with a Thunder Rage. She targeted the second flight group of the wing of Lakitus that had come under assault. Again, lightning rained down on the Lakitus and dispersed their clouds, oftentimes frying the cloud-riding Koopas to dust before the clouds managed to disperse.

Kooper, Koops, Goombario, and Parakarry were about to unleash their items on the onrushing Koopas that were storming the gates when they soon saw a massive airship appear above them flanked by a dozen jet fighters reminiscent of mid twentieth century Earth jet fighters. The airship was significantly larger than any of the other airships that they had seen before. They quickly figured that this was the flagship of the Koopa Airship Fleet. It looked like a traditional old Earth water naval of the early twentieth vessel, but was huge, being the size of two football fields. Also, unlike the rest of Bowser's airship fleet, this airship was made out of metal and was painted silver. The appearance of the airship darkened the spirits of the heroes, who had been emboldened by their success against the horde of Koopas flooding into the castle. "Great," Goombario muttered. "Not what we needed to see." He then called over to Goombella, alerting, "We've got an attack coming from above!"

Sure enough, as Goombella looked above her, she saw a countless Bob-ombs begin to parachute out of the Koopa airship. The Koopa airship's cannons and Bullet Bill launchers also began to target the heroes and they opened fire on them. Black missiles with menacing scowls erupted from the cannons and began to approach the heroes. Watt floated towards them and unleashed a Mega Shock on the Bullet Bills and parachuting Bob-ombs, shorting them out and causing them to fall to the ground, where they fell among the Koopas that were flooding into the entrance. Goombella then called to the others, "Watt, Parakarry, Bow, you help deal with the airship and its fighter support!" She then handed them some Egg Missiles, Egg Bombs, and Coconut Bombs. "Take these items," she told them. "You'll need them for dealing with that monstrosity up there." Turning to the others, she told them, "The rest of you, focus on those Koopas!"

With that, Watt, Bow, and Parakarry went up to deal with the threat that the airship posed. As they flew into the air, the Koopa flagship fired a series of Bullet Bills and pink lasers at them. Watt used her Mega Shock to unleash a series of lightning bolts upon the Bullet Bills that disabled them, causing them to fall back to the ground, and onto more Koopas and Goombas, gouging more holes into the ranks of the ground attack forces. Four of the Koopa fighters soon launched a series of fireballs disgorged from wing-mounted cannons towards the friends. Parakarry managed to evade the fireballs headed his way and retaliated by firing an Egg Missile towards the lead fighter. The missile homed in on the heat signature of the fighter and flew up its engine, where it exploded and blew apart the rear half of the fighter. The rest of the fighter merely fell back down to the ground, where it crashed and exploded, destroying one of the smaller battlements in the process.

Watt soon went to join Parakarry as more fighters converged on the Koopa Paratroopa with the intent to avenge their fallen comrade. Watt, however, was more than able to take care of them with a single Mega Shock attack. These fighters did not have any protection against lightning strikes, so when her Mega Shock scored hits on the fighters, their systems shorted out and their engines shut down, reducing them to deadweights. The dead fighters then fell the ground, some of them crashing into the makeshift stands that had housed numerous civilian Koopas before they had been pressed into service, and others crashed into some of the smaller guard towers of the castle, destroying them and any of the Koopas that were still inside said towers. As Parakarry joined Bow in heading towards the airship, itself, Watt remained behind to deal with the remaining fighters.

Bow and Parakarry quickly approached the airship. With Watt dealing with the rest of the fighters, Bow and Parakarry had to deal with the incoming fire all on their own. The Bullet Bills would be the hardest to avoid due to the fact that they were guided missiles. Fortunately, Bow had brought along a Thunder Rage, which she promptly used against the missiles, as well as on the airship. The airship, however, was protected from lightning strikes and, as a result, suffered no damage. As they got closer, though, the airship crew stopped using their Bullet Bills and started to use its normal cannons and lasers. The cannonballs and laser beams streaked past the heroes as they approached the massive ship. They knew that the dorsal surface of the ship would be littered with weapons and that it would be heavily armored, so their weapons would be of little use on the hull of the ship. That left the only viable target as three top rotors of the ship. Still, they knew that they would have to deal with the numerous weapons and crewmembers that would likely come out to face them in defense of the ship.

Parakarry was preparing to use an Ice Storm on the crew that came out to meet them when an idea came to his head. He turned to Bow and said, "Hey Bow, I've got an idea!"

"What is it?" the Boo asked.

"I think we've just found our escape ship," the Koopa Paratroopa replied.

Bow did not know what he was thinking at first, but a moment later, she smiled, realizing his plan. The Boo then gave ghoulish grin. "I like where your head's at," she said in a sinister tone. "Let's do it!"

The Koopa Paratroopa and Boo made their way closer to the hull of the ship. As they approached, a large number of Rocky Wrenches, Koopas with gray shells that threw wrenches at intruders popped up out if the interior of the ship, along with several Koopa Troopas and two Magikoopas. Not wanting to risk inflicting any damage to the ship, Parakarry pulled out his Ice Storm and targeted only the Koopas that were coming out to meet them, being careful to avoid any of the rotors or rocket engines. A storm of ice and wind buffeted the Rocky Wrenches, Koopa Troopas, and Magikoopas and froze them solid. After they were frozen, Parakarry and Bow went over and picked up each of the frozen Koopas and threw them overboard to shatter on the ground below. The two soon looked over at Watt, who was coming to them after having dealt with the escorting jet fighters. Once the three of them reunited, they proceeded to make their way inside the ship and deal with the rest of the crew.

Meanwhile, on the ground below, Luigi and Vivian were more than holding their own against Bowser and the Koopalings. Ludwig, Bowser Jr., and Roy had already been rendered unconscious, with Wendy and Iggy showing signs of fatigue and even some minor injury. Bowser was breathing heavily and clutching his side, but he was unwilling to give up just yet. He unleashed his fiery breath towards Luigi and Vivian, but the Shadow Spirit merely pulled the plumber into the shadows, allowing the fire to sail over them and onto a group of Koopa Troopas who were trying to launch a sneak attack on the plumber. Instead, Bowser accidentally reduced them to ashes for their effort. The Koopa King gave a roar as he realized that he had incinerated his own troops, rather than his enemies, and then winced as his movement caused a jolt of pain to shoot throughout his ribcage. Vivian and Luigi emerged from the shadows and the Shadow Spirit smiled at the Koopa King. "Careful, sire," she chided.

This only drove Bowser further into a rage and he charged the two, ignoring the pain of his shattered ribcage and heedless of the fact that Luigi was still wearing his Hammer Suit and that he would be screening his children, essentially making this a two-on-one battle. Vivian could only laugh as Bowser closed in on the two of them. This would be too easy. She quickly produced an Ice Storm and unleashed it upon the Koopa King. Since Bowser was close to being right on top of them, Vivian would not have been able to miss if she had wanted to. The Koopa King took the full brunt of the attack as Luigi ducked out and fired off a volley of hammers at Bowser and the other Koopalings. The first two hammers struck Bowser, one in the left leg, shattering his knee, and one in his left arm as Bowser raised it to cover his head. This was all before the Ice Storm washed over him and froze the Koopa solid. The arm was promptly broken by the hammers. The next two struck Wendy and Iggy and they joined Ludwig, Bowser Jr., and Roy in unconsciousness, leaving only Larry, Lemmy, and Morton still conscious, though the relatively even numbers now made victory seem far less likely, especially now with Bowser having been frozen into a block of ice. With Bowser and two more Koopalings dealt with, Larry, Lemmy, and Morton were beginning to worry about their prospects. They turned to Kevin, who was busy fighting with Mario, and yelled, "Hey Kev, we could really use some help here!"

Meanwhile, during Bow, Parakarry, and Watt's assault on and capture the airship and Luigi and Vivian's battle against Bowser and the other Koopalings, Mario had his hands full with the Crown Prince of the Koopas, Kevin. Still, despite the fact that of all the forces, Kevin was having the most success, he was merely fighting evenly with Mario. Kevin, had quickly closed the distance between himself and Mario, willing to take the damage that Mario's fireballs inflicted on him for the chance to engage Mario in close combat, where he felt he had a definite edge against the plumber. However, the prince soon realized that Mario was a lot more formidable than he had initially believed. Kevin swept his wand at Mario, who parried the attack with the hammer that Luigi had tossed over to him. A loud clang rang out as the two weapons clashed. Kevin took another swing at Mario but the plumber managed to dodge his attack. Mario tried to launch a counterattack, but Kevin managed to dodge his swing. Mario overextended himself and Kevin proceeded to swing his wand at Mario's hammer. He hit the hammer and knocked it out of the plumber's hand, sending it twirling through the air. It landed ten meters away and skidded to a stop. Kevin then performed a side kick that managed to strike the off balance Mario in the chest, sending him flying through the air. While the kick was strong, it was not sufficient to de-power Mario. The plumber landed on his back and rolled to a stop when Kevin pointed his wand towards the fallen plumber. Mario responded by pointing his hand at the Koopa Prince and firing a series of fireballs at him. The Koopa Prince managed to dodge the first few, but Mario kept following the prince's movements. As the prince took aim, Mario fired one last fireball towards him. The orb of fire struck the prince in the chest and sent him reeling backwards. He fell to the ground, but was quick to recover and rose to face Mario once more. He then pointed his fingers towards Mario and unleashed a stream of lightning towards the plumber. However, the plumber was already on the move as soon as he saw the prince raise his hand and when Kevin unleashed his attack, all the lightning struck was a wall behind the plumber. The Koopa Prince then pointed his wand towards the plumber and prepared to launch a powerful fire spell.

Mario backed away a bit more from the prince and was hoping to put enough distance between him and the Koopa Prince when Vivian and Luigi suddenly showed up. Luigi, seeing Kevin power his spell, tossed a few hammers the prince's way to distract him from targeting his brother. As the hammers arced through the air, Kevin raised his left finger and shot them all out of the air with single blasts of lightning. He then targeted the plumbers and released his stream of fire. Vivian quickly pulled Mario into the shadows as Luigi curled into his Hammer Suit's shell. A cone of fire was unleashed by Kevin's wand, which was also augmented by Kevin's own fiery breath. The flames washed over Luigi and he could feel the temperature rise inside his shell. Despite the fact that his shell was strong enough to resist the fireballs of a Venus Fire Trap and a Fire Bro., his shell was struggling to hold against the flames from both Kevin's wand and his fire breath, a technique that the Koopa Prince had not demonstrated to the plumbers before. Still, the shell did manage to hold against the searing flames and after twenty seconds, the attack ceased. Luigi's Hammer Suit shell was smoking, but the plumber inside was unharmed.

Vivian and Mario then emerged from the shadows and Luigi from his shell. The three presented a united front against Kevin, who was soon going to receive his own set of reinforcements. Larry, Lemmy, and Morton soon joined their older brother. Larry came up to Kevin and whined, "That plumber and Shadow Spirit are too strong. Beat them for us, please!"

Kevin suppressed the urge to grumble at the immaturity of his younger siblings. "Stay behind me," he directed. "Unleash covering fire on the trio. Have them…ahhh!" he suddenly cried as several explosions rang out all around him. The explosions sent the Koopalings and the prince flying in all directions. Kevin looked up into the sky and saw one of the Koopa airships descending towards the ground, firing into the ranks of Koopas that were charging towards Mario's allies. He then focused his attention towards the airship and prepared to fire a blast of energy towards it in order to shoot it down. However, in doing so, he took his eyes off the others, who made him pay when he they launched a combination attack on him. Vivian twirled her fingers, a sign of using Fiery Jinx. Immediately, Kevin's robes burst into flames as Mario and Luigi then launched attacks of their own. Kevin used a spell to put out the fire and cure any burns that he suffered, but that left him highly vulnerable to the fireballs and hammers thrown by Mario and Luigi. The first few fireballs and hammers hit the Koopa Prince in the chest and sent him staggering backwards. Eventually, Kevin recovered enough to raise a shield to absorb some of the blows. Kevin then took a few more steps back. He knew that he had lost any edge he may have had, and that the Marios were the ones who held the advantage. He looked around for his siblings and found them to all be unconscious. He grimaced. Larry, Lemmy, and Morton had been knocked out by the airship's attack. He then looked to his right a ways off and saw Bowser, frozen in a block of ice. The prince's heart sank at the sight and his eyes went wide with dread. For a moment, he feared the worst about his father, but he soon used his wand and cast a scanning spell and found his father to still be alive, albeit frozen in a block of ice. He had to be extra careful now. Even though Bowser would not remain frozen forever, while he was frozen, he would be highly vulnerable to being shattered by any attack that managed to hit him. Apparently, the Marios and Vivian were thinking along the same lines, for they immediately headed over to the frozen Koopa King.

"No!" Kevin shouted as he pointed his wand towards them, but he hesitated. He could not take the risk of injuring his father. And with the ship hovering above them, he had the horrible feeling that if he tried anything that the ship would fire on Bowser, killing him if the prince were unable to intercept the enemy fire in time. Even with all of his magic and strength, he was uncertain that he would be able to intercept his the fire from the airship, especially if they used any of its lasers.

The Mario Brothers and Vivian soon took cover behind the frozen form of Bowser and looked up at the airship that was providing covering fire for them, wondering who was in charge of the ship. A volley of laser blasts emerged from several of the ship's broadside cannons and targeted several Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. that were approaching. The laser barrage quickly dealt with the Koopas, forcing them to either take cover or be annihilated, which several of them were. The ship soon lowered itself to the point where it was only ten feet above Bowser. A ventral hatch opened and an anchor was lowered. Watt and Parakarry floated near the anchor as it descended and called down to the trio, telling them, "Grab hold! We'll take you guys up!"

Mario and Luigi promptly grabbed the anchor, as did Vivian. They were about to ascend when Parakarry brought out a gray metallic rope and tied it around the frozen form of Bowser, who was beginning to defrost. "Now we'll have a safety net in our escape," the Paratroopa explained.

The airship then flew over towards Goombella, with the captive Bowser hanging from its bottom. Kevin watched as the hijacked airship took his father towards the sight of battle. He could see that his father was now defrosted, but was in no condition to fight. Kevin rushed towards the airship but knew that he could not risk firing on it, for if it crashed now, it might crush his father. He would have to wait until the crew of the released his father before risking an attack. The ship approached Goombella and the others and quickly lowered itself again to take on the other allies. As it touched down, Kevin saw one of Mario's allies, Watt, use Mega Shock on the approaching force, and his father. This gave Mario's allies the opportunity to file onto the captured airship and flee the scene. Kevin quickly went to go to rescue his father, but was held back by Kamek, Kammy, and several other Koopatrols. "You can't," they insisted, physically restraining the prince.

"They have my father!" Kevin countered. "I can't abandon him to them!"

"They won't kill him, my lord," one of the Koopatrols said. "They'll merely hold him until they are clear of any pursuit. Once they're clear, they'll release him and we can take him back. But if we strike now, they'll most certainly kill him."

Kevin could understand where the Koopatrol was coming from, but he could not help but wonder if the Koopatrol may have been lying on the chance that the Marios would kill Bowser, which would make him the new king, which was something that a great deal of Koopas wanted. Eventually, he decided that he had enough and he summoned his broomstick. Kamek and Kammy prepared to use some restraining spells on the prince, but he turned and fired first with a paralysis spell of his own. The two Magikoopas were frozen in place and Kevin flew towards the airship in an attempt to rescue his father.

As the Koopa Prince flew towards the ship, he saw each of the Mario's allies file onboard the airship, one right after the other. The last to board the ship was Goombella. After she boarded the ship, the ventral hatch closed. He then saw one of the gun ports open and a cannon emerge. What he then saw horrified him, for tied to the front of the cannon was his father. He immediately stopped and waited as the ship began to ascend. Several other Magikoopas, who had come after him to join him in the rescue attempt of his father, also froze at the sight of their king being tied to the business end of a cannon. Just then, Mario and Luigi emerged from the top of the ship. It was then that they delivered their ultimatum in a serious and grim tone, "You will let us leave here and return to the Mushroom Kingdom unmolested and unhindered in any and every way. Once we reach the border of our two lands, we will release your father."

Kevin gritted his teeth at the sight. His father was a captive of the Marios. He looked back at the Magikoopas, who seemed lost on what to do at the moment, and then back at his father. "Do as they say!" he eventually told his son and the others with difficulty.

With that command, the Magikoopas proceeded to back off. Kevin was hesitant to leave, but Goombella's bark of, "Back," and Bowser's stern nod was enough to convince the Koopa Prince to back off a few meters and remain as the captured Koopa airship proceeded to rise and make its way out of the castle.

Once the airship was high enough to clear the castle's battlements, it began to power its rear rotor and ready its rocket engines. As they approached the outer walls of the castle, Mario called over to Kevin and said, "I was wrong earlier. We won't be releasing Bowser once we reach the edge of the kingdom." This statement caused Kevin to rush towards the ship, fearing the worst. However, instead of vaporizing the Koopa King by firing the cannon, Lady Bow appeared next to Bowser and undid the rope, allowing the Koopa King to fall to the top level of the outer battlements. As Bowser fell to the ground, landing on his feet and then falling forward, crying out as he landed on his broken leg. Kevin rushed over to him to make sure that he was okay. As soon as Bowser's eldest son arrived, he went up to his father and checked on his condition. "Father, are you okay?" he asked, full of concern for his father.

"No!" his father struggled to roar. "The Marios are getting away in my flagship!"

Kevin watched as the airship sped away from the castle, using its rocket engines to propel itself at speed far greater than all of the other airships in the fleet. Kevin soon took out a handheld radio and bellowed into it, "My father's free! Get our fighters after the airship!"

Soon, a radio came in over the radio in a worried tone, saying, "Sir, we can't. The fighters stationed at the castle were destroyed in the battle and it'll take twenty minutes for us to scramble more, plus however long it would take for us to intercept the airship, and by that time it'll be well inside the Mushroom Kingdom."

Kevin grimaced. He knew that the Koopas could easily invade the Mushroom Kingdom, but he also knew that with the recent victories, that an invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom would be costly, especially since they now had the former flagship of the Koopa airship fleet. Eventually, Kevin ordered, "Then tell the other airships that are between here and the Mushroom Kingdom to intercept the flagship of the fleet. Tell them that it is to be taken down with extreme prejudice."

"Understood, sir," the voice responded tentatively. Kevin was not holding his breath about the other ships managing to catch the flagship, let alone shoot it down, and recapture Mario. The flagship was the fastest ship in the fleet and exceedingly heavily armored. Most of the cannonballs would bounce off of its hull without inflicting any damage whatsoever to the ship. Realizing that the Marios had escaped his and his father's grasp, he slammed his fist into the ground and cursed, showing the greatest showing of frustration that his father had ever seen, his shock evident on his face. After a few moments, Kevin looked back at his father and gave a soft smile. "At least he didn't manage to kill you," the Koopa Prince eventually said as he went over to his father and gave him a fierce embrace, which only caused his father to grunt in pain. Kevin quickly disengaged himself from his father and looked into his eyes affectionately. "Come, Father," he said. "We have to get you to the medical ward."

Bowser did not know how to respond to this show of affection. For so long, he had been worried that his oldest son would try to take over as King of the Koopa Kingdom. Kevin certainly had the power to do so, as well as the support. In fact, many in the kingdom wished for him to do just that. In addition, despite how often the Koopa Prince had insisted that he did not want to rule before his time, which would only come upon his father's natural death or voluntary abdication, Bowser was still concerned that Kevin actually did have aspirations for the throne. Now of all times, he had the perfect opportunity to take the throne and kill his father should he have wished. Now, though, Bowser could clearly see that his son had been telling him the truth the entire time. All he had wanted was to be a member of the Koopa Royal Family and for his father to see him as a son, rather than as a soldier or as competition. Bowser then returned a strained smile due to the pain he was experiencing, and said, "Don't worry, son. It's not over yet. Once the castle's fixed and we've tallied up our losses and everything, we'll start plotting our next attack on the Mushroom Kingdom. And this time, you'll be a part of the strategy session."

Kevin then smiled sincerely. "Thank you, Father," he replied. With that, the two proceeded to go down and assist the others in taking stock of the damage, and also help with the wounded and with the other Koopalings. There was a lot of work that needed to be done.