The group chased Koopa all the way to the docks. Koopa growled, and pulled another Bob-omb out of his shell.
"Hold it, you plunger heads!" he shouted. "One more step, and I'll blow up the entire town, and everyone in it! I've got plenty more Bob-ombs where this came from!"
"Now what do we do?" Phyllis asked. "We can't let him destroy the whole town!"
"Looks like we're stuck," Mario said.
Koopa laughed, thinking he won, when the group suddenly heard a blast, and a cannon ball came flying through the air, and beaned him right in the head.
"Ow!" he shouted.
"Where did that come from?" Luigi asked.
"Probably the same place as those other cannon balls are coming from," Toad said.
The others looked, and saw a small fleet of ships firing cannon balls at the docks. When they realized this, they began panicking.
"Cannon balls?!" they all yelled in unison.
"Let's get outta here!" Franky shouted.
"Good idea!" Mario shouted. "Gangway!"
Our heroes ran for cover, as cannon balls rained down on the docks. Most of them were hitting Koopa however.
"I've had enough of this!" he shouted, taking a flask out of his shell. "No way I'm sticking around and waiting to have my clock cleaned! As the old saying goes, he who Koops and runs away lives to Koop another day!"
And with that, Koopa threw the flask into a wall, and a hole opened up in it.
"Oh no!" the Princess shouted. "Koopa's escaping through another warp zone!"
"Not again!" Luigi groaned.
"Stop him!" Toad shouted.
Mario jumped out of his hiding place and, trying to avoid the cannon balls, made a flying leap for Koopa, but he wasn't able to catch him before he climbed into the warp zone, and it started closing up.
"Too late, shower scum!" Koopa shouted, as the warp zone disappeared, laughing maniacally.
"Darn it!" Mario shouted. "He got away again!"
"Yeah, but we've got bigger things to worry about!" Luigi shouted. "INCOMING!"
"Yikes!" Mario shouted, and dove out of the way just as another cannon ball came crashing down. He regrouped with the others just in time.
"That was a close one," he said.
"How are we going to get those ships to stop firing at us?" Franky asked, holding Puffball close.
"I think there's only one thing we can do, paisano," Mario said. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, tied it to a wrench, raised it over his head, and began waving it.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Toad asked.
"I don't know what else we can do," Mario said, shrugging.
"Mario's right," the Princess said. "We don't have any other choice, except surrendering."
The firing stopped, and the boats docked. People started disembarking, and both Phyllis and Franky heaved sighs of relief, when they saw most of them were wearing naval uniforms.
"It's okay, you guys," Phyllis said. "They're on our side!"
"You sure?" Luigi asked.
"Positive," Franky said. "They're part of Dad's naval fleet."
The group stepped out of their hiding place, and approached the men disembarking the ships. Before anyone could say anything, Puffball suddenly meowed happily, jumped out of Franky's arms, and darted straight toward a tall man with scraggly silver hair and a scraggly looking beard, and wearing tattered clothes. Immediately, she began purring, and rubbing against his legs. The man smiled, picked her up, and began stroking her from ears to tail.
"Hello, Puffball," he said. "What are you doing all the way down here?"
Puffball merely closed her eyes, smiled, and began purring louder. Phyllis suddenly smiled, and tears began forming in her eyes.
"Father!" she shouted, happily.
Immediately, Phyllis and Franky ran over to the man, and threw their arms around him. Puffball had to climb onto the man's shoulder to avoid getting squished. Without missing a beat, the man wrapped his arms around Phyllis and Franky, and held them close.
"That's their dad?" Toad asked. "The governor of Portobello Port?"
"What's the matter, Toad?" the Princess asked.
"He doesn't look much like a governor to me!" Toad shouted.
"You gotta remember, Phyllis told us her dad's ship got caught in a big storm," Mario said. "He was probably stranded for who knows how long. We don't know how long Koopa had this place under siege."
Toad had to agree with that. Shortly afterward, Phyllis and Franky walked over to the quartet with their father right behind them.
"Father, these are the people who helped us save Portobello Port from King Koopa," Phyllis said. "Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad. Everybody, this is our father, Philip Portobello, the governor of Portobello Port."
"Nice to meet you, Governor," Mario said, shaking the governor's hand.
"Yeah, Phyllis and Franky have told us a lot about you," Luigi said.
"We're just sorry that Koopa Stoopa got away again," Toad said.
"Don't worry about it, Toad," the Princess said. "We'll get him someday."
"In the meantime," Philip said, "I'd say your victory over Koopa calls for a celebration."
"Yeah, man!" Franky shouted. "Party time!"
"Sounds good to me," Mario said. "Especially if there's a celebration feast involved! And the feast involves spaghetti, ravioli, tortellini, linguine, a pizza with everything, and of course, garlic ice cream and pepperoni cheesecake!"
"Garlic ice cream?" Phyllis repeated.
"Pepperoni cheesecake?" Franky asked, making a face.
"Me-yeeeccchhhh!" Puffball shouted, disgustedly.
Luigi, Toad, and the Princess began laughing at Puffball's reaction to Mario's two favorite desserts. They couldn't help themselves. Her look of disgust was just so cute.
Later that evening, the entire town of Portobello Port, along with Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad were in the ballroom of the governor's mansion for the victory party. However, Mario, Luigi, and Toad weren't too happy about it, considering it was formal, and they had to wear tuxedos.
"I hate fancy parties!" Toad shouted, tugging on his bowtie. "They're no fun!"
"Especially when they make you wear these penguin suits," Mario said.
"Yeah, I wish they'd let us wear our overalls," Luigi said. "Not to mention our work boots. These dress shoes are killing me!"
"Oh stop complaining," the Princess said. "Getting dressed up for one night isn't going to kill you!"
"Says you, Princess," Toad said. "I think this bowtie's gonna choke me to death!"
"I wonder where Phyllis, Franky, and the governor are?" Mario asked. "I haven't seen them here yet."
"Here they come now," the Princess said, pointing to the top of the stairs.
Phyllis, Franky, their father, and Puffball began to come down the stairs. The governor was now clean-shaven, and his hair was noticeably shorter. Phyllis had her hair in a ponytail tied with a blue ribbon, which matched her long, blue velvet dress. She was also wearing a pair of short, white gloves. Franky was wearing a green jacket, gray pants, and black dress shoes. Even Puffball was a bit more formal. Instead of her collar, she wore a big, pink, satin bow around her neck. As the four of them descended the stairs, Franky climbed up onto the banister, and slid down to the ballroom floor. Phyllis covered her eyes with her hand, and groaned loudly.
"So much for a dignified entrance," Mario said to him.
"Dignity is not in this boy's vocabulary," Philip said, as he and Phyllis walked over to our heroes. "Personally, I think he's just going through a phase."
"Oh really?" the Princess asked.
"Yeah," Phyllis said. "He's been going through this annoying phase for the past sixteen years."
"Oh hardy har har, sis," Franky said, sarcastically.
"Never mind," Philip said. "Franklin, go get the box for me, would you, please?"
"Okay, Pop," Franky said.
While Franky was doing this, Philip took one of the punch cups from the table, and tapped it with a fork to get everyone's attention. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, and turned toward the governor.
"May I have your attention, please?" he asked, as Franky returned with the box. "In recognition of the valiant efforts in saving Portobello Port, I hereby award the Mario Brothers, Princess Toadstool, and Toad, the Order of the Golden Mushroom!"
The room exploded with cheers and applause as Philip took four golden medals shaped like portobello mushrooms, and placed them around our heroes' necks.
"All just part of our job, Governor," Mario said.
"I have another reward for you, Luigi," Phyllis said. "Since you were mostly responsible for rescuing me from Koopa's clutches."
"Oh really?" Luigi asked. "What is it?"
Phyllis practically grabbed Luigi by the shoulders and gave him the biggest kiss she could muster right on the lips. When she pulled away, Luigi's pupils became heart-shaped and began pulsating, and steam whistled out of his ears. He heaved a heavy sigh, and fell to the floor, flat on his back.
"Luigi!" Mario shouted. "Are you all right? Speak to me!"
"Holy ravioli . . . . ." he said, somewhat dazedly, as he was left seeing stars.
"Oh yeah," Toad said. "He's all right. He'll probably be out of it for awhile, but he's definitely all right!"
"How long do you think he'll be out of it?" Mario asked.
"By the looks of it," Toad said, looking at Luigi carefully, "I'd say about three or four days."
"Well," Mario said, shrugging. "I guess that's amore!"
Mario and the others began laughing, much like they did whenever they finished up an adventure.
THE END