As of this chapter, the whole story takes place in the past. Sorry this was late, I had huge writer's block. I got over 18 pages done on my others in the past week alone, but I eventually figured out that I needed to quit pushing for an update so much and just relax and write!

We haven't had action either since Chapter Six… Hmm…

Mario

This is by far the worst 'Saving the Princess' adventure yet.

Not that I don't like saving Peach, oh no. My adventures of the past have been almost fun (if you don't count the near-death experiences that come as an occupational hazard). It's just that I have him tagging along this time. Not Luigi, not a luma, not even the many partners I had a while back, with the whole 'Void' business, but Prince Esteban Delfino, the biggest jerk that ever lived.

"So how many times have you saved her?" I grit my teeth and answered his question: I had lost count. The less we stop, the sooner Peach is away from the even bigger creep (if that's possible. They might be about the same) Bowser. And keeping up conversation keeps him walking… It was true: If the Prince got bored, he wanted to stop and eat lunch, or stop and talk to the locals, or just stop to rest… The list goes on. If he was as physically fit as he claimed to be, than a few more miles wouldn't hurt.

I hit a nearby Question Box, exposing a fire flower. It might come in handy, so I tucked it in my pocket.

"What is that?"

It took a whole lot of willpower to keep from rolling my eyes.

"It's a fire flower. The eater can throw fireballs for a short time, about ten minutes or so, at enemies."

"And you can just find them random places in these boxes?"

"Yep. The castle Toads scattered them to help me on my adventures. If they just give me a stock, I might use it all too soon, so they leave the boxes instead." Esteban nodded.

The warp pipe at the end of the path was marked, "Mushroom City." I silently jumped for joy at this. Esteban and I had been at this since I confronted him yesterday, and we were already at the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom, yet still hoofing it. The right warp pipe can get you anywhere, and this one would take us to my favorite pit-stop of the adventure.

On the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom was a very large metropolis, Mushroom City. Mushroom City used to be the capital of the kingdom for almost two and a half hundred years out of the thousand years the kingdom has existed. It was the first capital, until the city just started getting so big and the citizens' morals changing, that King Christopher Toadstool decided to move the castle to Toad Town, brick by brick.

Mushroom City was my favorite stop in the kingdom. Usually, I would rent a nice hotel for the night, eat at this cool revolving restaurant next door, and hopefully catch some MushroomKart racing at Mushroom Bridge, the local racecourse, before I would have to get moving again. Actually, Mushroom City had four tracks (Mushroom City, Mushroom Bridge, Rainbow Road, and Moonview Highway) and was quite famous for that reason.

The pine forest surrounding our path gradually grew thicker and the sky darker.

"Hey! It's only two in the afternoon! Why is the sky getting darker?"

Now that's just taking it a tad too far. Has he never been to Mushroom City, or even heard of it? I said, "That's the thing about Mushroom City, the town we're approaching. The legend says that when the capital was moved from there to Toad Town, the power stars that lie within the walls took the light from the city with it."

Actually, I totally made that up, and he believed it. He needs to get out more. But it's true that in Mushroom City, it has always been nighttime ever since the capital was moved to Toad Town. Who knows? It might have something to do with the power stars, but I wasn't going to worry about that right now.

Deep in Mushroom City, was a cannon. Now, this wasn't any ordinary cannon, it was a magical cannon! Cheesy saying aside, allow me to explain.

Hundreds of years ago, the only gateway to one of the cloud kingdoms was this magical cannon, which shot not cannonballs, but people, into the air and landed them safely in the clouds. But then, with new technology (the hot-air balloon) and one fatality (though the operator was under the influence of a Bowser at the time), the cannon was abandoned. Just a couple of years ago, Princess Peach decided to put it to good use: adventure help. Now, the cannon would blast someone all the way to World Four, namely me, if I could find it… And my tag-along, Esteban, too.

So that's why I normally stop in the City. The cannon gives me a blast out of this world! Get it? Out of this… um… never mind.

But this round, I wouldn't even have time to stop at all! Esteban and I were headed straight to the cannon, marked "W4".

"You know…" he said. I groaned inside my head. "You always save Princess Peach, no matter why she's in danger or how hard it will be to save her. Why?"

I've been dreading this question. I tried to think of something wise and thoughtful to say that would hopefully shake him from prying further, but no avail. I certainly couldn't tell him the truth, but I didn't want to lie, either. My morals were against it. So I was just left there, tongue-tied. Unfortunately, this leads Esteban into believing the truth is, well, true.

We had both stopped now, the cannon a mere one hundred feet from us. He had a scary look on his face.

"In four weeks and a day, the Princess and I will be married. That leaves absolutely no room in the picture for you. Besides, Mushroom Kingdom law states clearly that-"

"How much do you want to bet?" It popped out of my mouth, a slip of the tongue. Whoops. Esteban's eyes narrowed.

"I would bet my status as a Delfino Prince that it will happen!" he spit. "The princess and I will be happy together, forever!"

"You know, you're no better than Bowser! Bowser kidnaps her, and chases off anyone who tries to save her! And you…" Don't ask me where that came from. "are worse. You don't even like her."

Esteban was dumbstruck, standing there on the darkened forest path. Even I was shocked at my own words as the moon shone down over us.

"You know what?" I said. "Truce."

He glared at me.

"Hey. We're not going to get much farther if we fight." I stuck out my white-gloved hand. He shook it, but I think he had his fingers crossed.

Lillian

Niko had brought in another crow. The food bought from a Kharak dry goods store was out.

"That… is disgusting," my cousin Melody said. Just yesterday, she told us her story and how she came to be here. Even I could barely believe it, but I knew by the look in her eyes that it was true.

"It's what we've got! The first town in World Seven isn't for miles. C'mon… it tastes like chicken." This was the most Niko had said all day, after repairing his motorcycle, and driving it for another hundred or so miles, but we stared at the World Eight crow, lifeless on our World Seven puff of cloud/table. Pietro was looking a little green in the face. I didn't blame him.

"I think I'll pass, thank you," I said. Niko rolled his eyes, but nodded in understanding. Though I thought I heard, "Royalty…" being muttered under his breath.

So yeah, we kind of had to tell him about the whole "royalty" thing. We figured he was honest since he let me do wheelies on his motorcycle yesterday, even though it broke the bike. But if he's not… Well, that's a risk we just have to take.

A few minutes later, after the lunch that never was, we were back on the motorcycle. We had tied a puff of cloud or two behind us, and that was where Melody and Pietro sat, catching up with one another. As for me, I rode in the sidecar. Oh yeah.

"Whooooo!" Niko looked annoyed. He better get used to that.

It was by dark that we reached the first town in the Seventh World, a small village called Stratusville on the outskirts of Nimbus Land. The first thing we did, since Bowser's troops were bound to be on the hunt, was hide Niko's bike in the clouds nearby. Then, we took the rest of Yoshi's coins and bought some food at a small general store. The Beezo at the counter looked tired and unconcerned; he probably won't remember a thing. We were just some customers.

For the first time on this trip, we rented rooms at an inn for the night, rather than sleeping out in the open. The Stratusville Family Inn and Breakfast was small, but had the nicest owners I had ever met, who gladly let us weary and young travelers rent for free (we had about twelve coins at this point). Of course, we didn't tell the family of Nimbus People the whole story.

"Hello, I'm Melody, and I'm from the future, supposed to be the object of a prophecy!"

"Hi, I'm Pietro, and I'm a prince from the future, forced to talk in front of the evil emperor Bowser!"

"Hey, I'm Niko. I'm Melody, Pietro, and Lillian's guide to the Mushroom Kingdom. Right now, we're being hunted by Bowser's evil followers, who could easily destroy this whole village."

"What's up? I'm Lillian, also a princess from the future. A couple days ago, we blew up one of Bowser's airships! Awesome!"

Nope, that wouldn't work. We'd be kicked out and turned in before you could say, "time travel".

It was dim in our hotel room, when Niko said something astonishing (to us, anyway) while talking to Melody about tomorrow's game plan.

"Tomorrow morning, you guys can rent a car with the remaining money you have, while I take the bike back to Kharak."

"Niko!" Melody protested. I sat up on the couch and Pietro poked his head out from under the bed covers.

"Come on… you can't expect me to stay here forever, did you?" he retorted. Melody and we were silent as Niko stared. Niko had grown on us.

"Why do you want to go back?" Pietro asked, almost accusingly. And it was Niko's turn to be silent. "No offense dude, but you've got almost nothing back there."

Niko took a deep breath, and answered his question as truthfully as he could muster.

"It's my father. I never knew him, and I have reason to believe he's still out there somewhere, and that he's worth finding."

"Well now, do you honestly think staying in Kharak is going to help you? Niko," said Melody, "It's likely he's elsewhere. If you want to look for him, this might be your best chance!"

There was a terrible silence for the longest time.

"Alright… I'll stay and travel."

"Yeah!" we cheered. He had grown on us.

"But on one condition: we make a conscious effort to find clues to my father, whoever he might be."

"That's cool, Niko." I said. "I don't know how it feels, quite, to never know a parent, but my mom and dad mean a whole lot to me and I couldn't stand to lose them, or never know them in the first place. Don't worry about it."

And for the first time, ever since we met him, Niko cracked a smile, and I knew he was now part of the team.

The next morning, after showers, sleep, and a very yummy breakfast courtesy of the family that owned the inn, we were off, racing across the clouds, dodging vines and paratroopas here and there. Unlike the previous world, the sun was out and bright, with not a cloud above us (they were below us, of course).

Little did I know, this would not be just another day of traveling in search of the Mushroom Kingdom.

We were zooming along the terrain, silent, listening to nothing but the growling of Niko's motorcycle. But then, we heard more engines behind us, steadily growing louder.

"Do I dare turn around?" Pietro said to Melody on the cloud.

"You might have to!" I said, and looked behind us. There was an airship tailing us, one of Bowser's. "Niko, kick up the speed! Get under cover!" And they had found us.

Niko took a veering right turn behind some vines, and hit the brakes. Maybe they hadn't seen us yet. But the cannonball shot from the airship, narrowly missing us, told us otherwise. Niko sped out from the cover of the vines and into the open stratus clouds.

The airship had opened "rapid-fire" and Niko kicked into sonic speed on his motorcycle (which I didn't even know it could do. His motorbike can do a lot of random things, though).

KA-BAM! Another cannonball blew a hole in the clouds.

Wait a second.

"Niko!" I shouted up at him, "We need to get to cover!"

"Tell me something I don't already know!"

"No! The clouds provide the best cover of all! Does your bike have a parachute?"

Weird looks from our passengers on the cloud.

"NO! It does not!"

A cannonball shot right in front of us, making Niko screech to a halt, kicking up water vapor and clouds with a screeching "SCREECH!" I looked back again, and our pursuers, whoever they might be, were much closer than before. I looked in the hole in front of us and saw… more clouds, less than ten feet below. Should be a soft landing.

"Lillian," said Pietro, "Maybe we should really think this…"

But that was all I heard, because at that point, I had hopped off the bike and jumped down the hole. But nothing was the way I had seen it only a few seconds before. The cloud I had seen? It had moved, making way for the rocky mountain terrain of the sixth World below.

If nothing happened, I would fall until I hit the ground. Hard.

Mr. Random Koopa Troopa

Me? I'm nobody, just a random koopa troopa, working in the kitchen of one of Bowser's many airships. Nothing much exciting has ever really happened in my life, but today was quite different.

Mistress Wendy O. Koopa had called for a chocolate cake, and I was delivering said chocolate cake, when I found myself right in the middle of one of the Koopalings' "quarrels" (barbaric brawling, in your opinion).

"King Dad wants BOTH prisoners ALIVE, Roy!" shouted Ludwig von Koopa, "If she DIES, he tosses our video games into the VOLCANO! Now you don't want that… do you?"

Roy shook his head. Ludwig was intimidating.

"Good! Larry, you're piloting?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Capture her with the net!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"… And stop saying 'sir, yes sir!'"

"Sir, yes, er, sorry big bro…"

Ludwig shook his head, "Just… capture her before she hits the ground. Please." There were whispers amongst the other Koopalings at this news. Ludwig said "please"!

The net was out, and tangled in it, the escaped girl was reeled in to the airship's hull. Ludwig went down the stairs to see the prisoner.

Something exciting had finally happened to me! I was so overjoyed though, that I dropped the Mistress Wendy's chocolate cake, and she had just come over to get it.

It might be the last thing that ever happened to me.

Luigi

This Kart is amazing, but the kart isn't everything in a race, skill is a must-have. Over the last few days, I've been practicing and practicing… and now the big day is here: my first race with the Silver Star.

I've been racing in the Retro Grand Prix for as long as I could remember racing, and it's always been my greatest dream to advance to the "big leagues", the Nitro Grand Prix. This kart might just get me there.

The first course of the Banana Cup was Bowser Castle 2, an old fort of Bowser's that had been long since abandoned. But the thwomps and the lava were still there…

3…

2…

1…

GO!

Managing a perfect speed start, I took off in the lead, but that soon disappeared. The lead, I mean. The toad girl from the previous race was back, and she took first place seconds into the race.

She too, had a brand new kart, a streamlined purple-spotted racer that was low to the ground and had unusually thin and long shaped headlights, stretching almost to the back of the kart.

I hit the first item box and came out with a banana. How helpful. I dropped the banana behind me and screeched around the sharp turn leading into a wider area, filled with numerous thwomps. I dodged and weaved around the thwomps the best I could, but it was no match for the two racers behind me, who could somehow do it better. Before I even hit the first boost pad on the next turn, I was in fourth place.

In the next area were a myriad of holes and boosts leading over them, but some holes were so big that the boosts wouldn't help you any. In fact, I usually don't even mess with the holes and the boost pads, just dodge them. But this time was different.

The toad girl had gotten hit by a blue shell, putting her back closer where I was. I managed to shout over the din, "You again?"

"Yeah! Third place moves on too, you know. Catch you later!" she said, and swerved to the left. I looked back in front of me to see a very large hole, and a very small boost pad. I would never make it.

But then, the person next to me (a koopa troopa with an obvious attitude) did something really, really stupid. He cut me off with a banana peel right in front of the boost pad, and went across it himself. He went across at an angle, so he landed on the side just fine. So did I, and survived the lava. For now.

I was in sixth place, definitely not cool at all for someone with my goals. But the next item box I opened was a golden mushroom, which could definitely be put to good use.

It was the second lap, I was in fifth place, and still hanging on to that mushroom. In the area with the thwomps I finally decided to use it, and zipped through the track with no problem. I was still stuck in second.

Last lap, the crowd roars.

I manage to avoid the sides of the track, but the goomba behind me wasn't so lucky. Now, it was just me and the toad girl, of whom I still don't know the name. I should probably find out.

But then, the unthinkable happened. Again. I was hit by a koopa shell, and fell straight into the lava. By the time Lakitu had fished me out, I was in dead last.

Time for a miracle, and the stars were on my side today.

The next box was a bullet.

I zoomed back into second, and was neck and neck with the toad girl! (she looks like a "Zoe" to me, don't you think? Let's just call her that)

Would the bullet be enough? Or would I need to push on more speed that I just didn't have?