(I'm putting the finishing touches on this chapter, looking so giddy I was close to peeing my pants... Which is SAYING something.)

NUTCASE: Uh... You okay Gantz?

Ace: Yeah, what gives?

Me: I'LL TELL YOU WHAT GIVES!!! (Turns my seat around.) I just went to the theaters and saw 'PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: AT WORLDS END' BABY!!!!!

(Everyone gawks.)

NUTCASE: You did?

Me: YOU BETTER BELIEVE I DID!!!! (Quiets down a little.) Albeit the ending... Left a little more to be desired... But besides that... IT WAS KICK-BUTT!!!!

Zane: What do you mean by, 'Ending left a little more to be desired'?

Me: Sorry, can't tell you! (Makes a 'Zip-the-lip' sign.) Gotta see the movie yourself. Anyways, in this chapter, Mario and friends finish up their fight with the Albatoss and the Bill Blasters, and immediately go into a fight with the Koopa Bros. Expect the best!! ON WITH THE STORY!!!!


Chapter .11.

Vs. The Koopa Bros


Okay lets try this again... The Koopa Bros Fortress... So Peaceful... So Tranquil...

KAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

Guh, why do I even try? Anyways, the kaboom came from inbetween the two main towers of the fortress. Higher in the sky there was a humongous bird flying high. It appeared to be fighting something that was much smaller then it was. Upon closer inspection, the giant bird, more commonly known as an Albatoss, was fighting Kooper. His wings were still intact, though there was no telling how much longer he had before the Wing Cap's effect wore off. The Albatoss slammed the winged koopa aside with its wing. Kooper went flying a little ways, until he stopped himself. He shook off the blow, and stared at the Albatoss right in the eye. "DANGIT!!!! I can't fight him off alone like this!!!"

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Albatoss was suddenly hit square in the stomach. A large gust of air escaped the Albatoss' lungs before it was sent flying upward not by its wings but by the momentum of the hit. It was revealed to be Mario wearing a Power Feather Cape. He flew up to Kooper, "You-a okay?"

"Yeah..." Kooper said, scratching the back of his head bashfully. "It didn't hurt really."

"GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mario and Kooper looked to see Goombario flying up to them. He seemed out of breath. "Wait up for me..." Goombario said trying desperately to catch his breath.

Mario looked back to the Albatoss, to see that the bird had righted itself and was about to charge again. The plumber rolled his eyes and prepared for another round with the Albatoss.


Back on the tower walkway, the bullet bills were still flying around hitting whatever they were shot at. Zane and Bombette had taken cover behind a piece of floor that was jutting out of the main floor. Zane still had the Fire Flower in his hands, but was still unable to learn how to use it. "You're kidding right!?!? You have a power-up and YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE IT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Bombette screamed.

Zane shrugged, "Hey, we were only taught martial arts fighting styles; we were never taught how to use power-ups." He looked back to the Fire Flower, and tried focusing on it really hard. He even tried begging internally. 'Come on... ... ... Please...' When nothing happened, he slammed his fist in frustration against the piece of floor sticking out. "DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Bombette rolled her eyes. "Looks like we'll have to do without!" She and Zane, after he put up the fire flower, ran from behind their cover and charged towards the Bill Blasters. Zane punched a few Bullet Bills away, and Bombette blew up in the face of five Bullet Bills. Zane quickly jumped over another Bullet Bill... However this bullet bill was immediately followed by two others right behind it. Zane landed on the third bullet bill, and was trying desperately to balance on it, as it flew. Bombette, seeing she was now alone in this struggle, grunted angrily, and started charge the Bill Blasters. A Bullet Bill crashed onto the floor in front of her and before she could see it, another crashed into her, with a kaboom. She was sent flying backward, covered with soot and injured. Another Bullet Bill started to fly right at her. It grinned evilly as it zoomed in to finish her off... She was suddenly snatched out of the way by something going so fast, the Bullet Bill never had the chance to see it... Not that it could anyway since it hit the floor with a big kaboom long before it could look.

Bombette slowly opened her eyes and looked to see that she was hovering close to a Bullet Bill. She panicked a little, until her eyes wandered upwards. She almost gasped in disbelief. Standing ON TOP of the bullet bill, riding it like a surfboard was none other then Zane T. He easily kept his balance as he forced the Bullet Bill to make a turn. "WHAT THE?!?"

Zane smirked, "Don't you worry everything will be just fine! I've got perfect control of this thing!" Almost as if to contrast his words, the bullet bill tried to buck him off. Zane managed to stay on the ride and kicked the bullet bill back into order. When Bombette stared at Zane questionably, he corrected himself. "Okay, I ROUGHLY know how it works..." He put Bombette on his right shoulder. "You might wanna hold on..." Bombette, using invisible hands, held on to his arm as tight as she could. Zane bent down and grabbed ahold of the Bullet Bills arms. "OKAY, TIN BRAIN I'VE GOT A LOT TO DO TODAY, AND YOUR GONNA HELP ME DO IT! AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GIVE ME ANY TROUBLE ABOUT IT. GOT IT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" The bullet bill, now fearing Zane, more then he feared anything else, nodded rapidly. Zane smirked. "Good." He suddenly yanked the bullet bills right arm. "Then turn around!!! It's time we do something about your buddies back there!!!" The Bullet Bill looked pained at how it's arm was suddenly yanked and turned back around towards Koopa Bros Fortress.


Back in the skies above Koopa Bros Fortress, the Albatoss was continuing it's rampage. Mario, Kooper, and Goombario were attacking the Albatoss with all the strength they had. The Albatoss was too strong for them, however. Mario sent a punch to the Albatoss' right side. The punch did damage but it wasn't enough to put the Albatoss down. The Albatoss countered by hitting Mario with it's wing. The plumber was sent flying backward at the hit. When he stopped, he was thankful that the hit wasn't strong enough to knock out his Power Feather power. Mario shook off the blow, and prepared for another go... Before Kooper slammed into him after the Albatoss sent him flying. Mario was barely able to catch Kooper before he collided with him. Kooper floated away from Mario and pulled out of his shell.

"This isn't good... We're getting our butts kicked by this bird!" Kooper yelled. He turned to Mario "I hope you have a good idea, Mario! We can't fight this thing as is!" Suddenly a small down-grade sound effect could be heard. Kooper looked at his back... To see his wings disappear right before his eyes. "... ... ... ... ... ... ... Uh... oh..."

And thus he started falling to the ground. He barely started falling before Goombario quickly flew by, letting Kooper grab his feet. Goombario was struggling to keep in the air with the new weight hanging from his feet. "Man, this isn't good!! If Kooper's wings went out, that means it won't be too long before mine go out too!" Goombario said. Mario looked at the Albatoss and his thoughts were running rampant. Their must've been something that could be used to stop this thing... His eyes landed on the creature's armor, which still had bob-ombs attached to it.

An idea struck; 'Of course! Why didn't I think about it before??' He turned to his friends, "You-a guys land back on the ground, I-a know the perfect way to-a fix this overgrown turkey!" Goombario and Kooper nodded, and the flying goomba quickly flew towards the ground. Mario flew towards the Albatoss. The Albatoss, seeing the flying plumber coming straight for it, tried to swipe at him with it's right wing. Mario dodged the wing and flew up to the bob-omb's who were quietly standing still, awaiting to be used. "Hey!!!" Mario called. This got the bob-omb's attention. "What are you-a doing just waiting to be used? Why don't you just take a stand and show this stupid bird who's boss?!? I mean you guys are the one with the real fire power!!"

The bob-ombs looked at each other confused. "Hmm... He's right..." It was quiet for a second... "REBELION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

They suddenly lit there fuses. Seeing where this was going, Mario quickly flew away as fast as he could. The Albatoss looked down at it's chest armor… And squawked loudly in fear. It started flailing it's wings around trying to blow air on the bob-omb's fuses. It was successful in putting out the fuses, as Mario could see. He needed something to help set off the bob-omb's at a fast rate. But what? His thoughts turned to Bombette, her explosions were so strong that they were able to knock down a WALL. He snapped his fingers, liking the idea. So he quickly flew downward to find Bombette.


Meanwhile, Zane and Bombette were still riding on top of the Bullet Bill. Zane was directing the bullet bill they were riding, dodging the other bullet bills expertly. As they flew, he turned to Bombette, who was still hanging on to his arm with invisible hands. "Bombette!! Light your fuse!" Zane ordered. Bombette looked further in front to see they were fast approaching the Bill Blasters. She nodded and lit her fuse. As they approached, the Bill Blasters tried one last round, to which Zane rode away from expertly. They were about to pass the Bill Blasters when Zane threw Bombette, making her land right into the nozzle of center Bill Blaster. The Bullet Bill inside that certain Bill Blaster looked panicky when it saw Bombette's smug face.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The center Bill Blaster was sent flying higher then any of the bullet bills it had fired. The Kaboom also knocked the other Bill Blasters over, knocking them for a loop. As the center one flew, it passed Zane and his bullet bill ride. Zane grabbed Bombette as the Bill Blaster flew. It continued flying until it became another star on the horizon. Bombette was covered with soot but otherwise unharmed. "Well… That was a nice kaboom." Bombette said with a goofy grin.

Zane nodded and let Bombette grab his arm so she could hold on as they flew. Mario flew past them as they went. As Mario flew he stopped, did a double take on what he just saw and flew back. He flew beside Zane in the next few seconds. "Zane! Bombette! We have a problem!" Zane turned to Mario questionably.

"What?" He asked, keeping control of the Bullet Bill he was riding as he did.

"The Albatoss is a lot tougher then first thought. But I think I have a way to beat it!" Mario yelled.

"What's that?!" Bombette asked, still applying her death grip to Zane's arm, with her invisible hands.

"It involves you Bombette!! Here's the plan!" Mario came up and whispered the plan to Zane, then to Bombette. Bombette seemed to enjoy the idea very much. "Think your up for it Bombette?" Mario asked, when he finished.

"YEP!!! Lets send that stupid bird back where he came from!!" Bombette yelled excitedly.

Meanwhile, with the Albatoss, the big bird had stopped flailing around when it realized the fuses on the bob-ombs went out. It sighed with relief before looking around, trying to find it's earlier opponents… It nearly gawked when it saw a Bullet Bill zooming towards it, holding a pink bob-omb on it's back, it's fuse lit.

The bullet bill was moving so fast, that the Albatoss never had time to move… … The sheer power of Bombette, the bullet bill, and the bob-omb's on its chest armor could be emphasized with one word…

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A smoke screen covered the Albatoss and its occupants… Suddenly a few hundred bob-ombs were sent flying away from the smoke screen. One of them being Bombette. Mario flew up from out of nowhere and grabbed Bombette and at least a few more bob-ombs he could carry. Zane also appeared, riding another bullet bill he had tamed, and grabbed as many as he could too. The two returned the bob-omb's to the tower walkway, waiting for them was Goombario and Kooper. Goombario's wings had long since disappeared and he was unable to fly. Zane and Mario set down the Bob-ombs and looked back at the smokescreen.

The smoke cleared… EVERY SINGLE PERSON, (Even the audience.) Laughed their FREAKING heads off, when they saw what was left of the Albatoss. It's chest armor was in shambles, and it's red feathers were gone. It's eyes were wide and it's beak was half open. It looked like a well done roast turkey more then anything. "OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A FEAST FIT FOR A KING!!!!!!!!!!" Zane joked. Everyone's laughter intensified at that. The Albatoss looked down on itself… Almost immediately, it covered it's lower half with it's wings, before it realized something else… It immediately tried flapping it's wings, trying to fly, but since it's feathers were gone that made it harder. What was surprising was that, despite the missing feathers, it started flying away from the fortress, with great difficulty. It was apparent that the only thing on this giant birds mind was to get away from psychos that blew him up. And that's what it did, coughing up some soot it had swallowed by accident as it went.


After 'thanks' were exchanged, the bob-ombs went on their way, leaving the heroes on the tower walkway. Mario turned to the tower that no doubt held the koopa Bros. "Okay then… We-a took care of the Albatoss, and their-a Bill Blasters… Now it's-a time to take care of the Koopa Bros themselves." The heroes nodded and walked to the tower. When Goombario walked to a small walkway that was to the side he found some Honey Syrup, an item, he explained, could recover Magic points when eaten. When it was put in Zane's bag, Mario went up to the tower door and opened it.

Inside the door was a large room with a big walkway that lead to what looked like a garage-style door on the other side. Looking down from the walkway, they could see the levels further below, Kooper could see the same platform where the fake '?' block was floating, and he could guess that even further down was the same prison that the bob-ombs were trapped in. The garage door opened slightly and Yellow walked out to see who had entered the room. "HEY!!! Whats going on in..!" He asked. He couldn't finish that sentence before he saw Mario and friends. "WHOA!!!" He turned to the garage door. "Are we ready to go guys?"

Green appeared from the door; he ran up to Yellow, grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back to the garage door. "Come on Yellow!! It's time!!" The Garage door closed behind them.

The heroes stared at each other quizzically. Red's voice came from nowhere. "Okay then, hold still we got it… What THE?!? WHOA!!!" A thud could be heard. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YELLOW?!?!? THAT WASN'T COOL AT ALL!!!!!"

Yellow's voice could be heard. "Okay sorry Red, now lets try that again…"

Red, now sounding satisfied, continued. "Okay then…" It was quiet for a second…

"HIIIIYYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Came Red's voice suddenly.

The Garage door opened in a flash, and out of it rolled… The heroes did a double take at what they were seeing, Kooper even rubbed his eyes to make sense of what he was seeing. What rolled out of the garage-like door was one of the WORST imitations of Bowser that any of the heroes had ever seen. It stood on tank-like wheels, it was maybe 8 feet tall, everything seemed just slapped together, and the ONLY traits the thing carried that even SLIGHTLY resembled Bowser, was the green shell back that had spikes, and the head at the top that looked something like Bowser. Aside from that nothing of it even resembled the Koopa King…



("Did I mention it was the WORST imitation of Bowser they had ever seen?")

"HAR, HAR, HAR, HAR, HAR, HAR, HAR!!!!!!!! Hello Mario!! It is I, the great King Bowser, ready to put an end to you!!!" Came Red's voice from inside the not-so well made Bowser mech.

Zane and Mario turned and stared at each other. They sweatdropped. "THEY… CAN NOT… BE SERIOUS…" Zane said; a super cynical tone in his voice.

Mario nodded an exasperated nod. "I know… I mean… HONOSTLY…"

'Mecha Bowser' rolled forward and stopped in front of the heroes. Red's voice could be heard again. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Surrender Mario!!! I'm the coolest king in this whole entire world!! You don't stand a chance against me!!"

The heroes just stared up at the Bowser mecha with unimpressed looks on their faces. Zane slowly picked up Bombette, whispered in her ear, and, when she winked, liking the idea, they walked up to the mech. "None of you stand a chance against me!!! I--- What are you doing?" Red continued, but stopped when he saw Zane and Bombette walk up to him.

Zane saw a hole that was covered up by cloth, just big enough for Bombette to fit through. He ripped the cloth off, revealing Yellow Ninjakoopa. Green seemed to be standing on his back, followed by Black, and he could guess that Red was at the top. Yellow chuckled nervously. "heh heh, Pay no attention to the Koopa behind the curtain?" He quoted helplessly. Zane answered by dropping a lit Bombette inside the pathetic mecha and slapping the cloth back over the hole. He slowly and calmly walked away from the mecha…

Meanwhile inside the mecha, the Koopa Bros heard the burning of a fuse and looked down. Bombette chuckled evilly as her fuse continued to run. "Lock ME in a prison, huh?"

The Koopa Bros looked like their eyes were about to burst out of their head. "Ooooh… Dude…"

KAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the pieces of the mecha were sent flying every which way, and all of them fell off the walkway, falling to the lower levels below. Bombette was still right in the center of where the explosion took place. She calmly walked back towards the heroes. "Too easy." She chuckled.

Goombario started to celebrate, "Way to go, Bombette!! You taught those losers who's boss!!"

Mario nodded with a smile, before he started looking around. "Yes, but now the question remains… Where's the Star Spirit?"

"You won't be getting him till after you beat us, dudes!!!" A voice called out suddenly. The heroes looked around for the source of the voice. The Koopa Bros suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a jump, landed on the floor in front of the heroes, and glared at them resentfully. "You don't know who you're messing with dude!!!" It turned out that it was Red's voice. "So allow me to show you!!! Play the theme tune Yellow!!!"

The view shows a small stereo, Yellow's hand appeared from the side and pressed the play button.



(The Koopa Bros Battle Theme plays in the background.)
They suddenly called out there names as the slid across the view.

"RED!!!"

"BLACK!!!"

"GREEN!!!"

"YELLOW!!!"

They were all pointing at the heroes after their introduction. "And together..! WE ARE!!!" Red said. The Koopa Bros suddenly entered a pose where all of them gave a thumbs up. A small showy flash came from each of their thumbs. "THE KOOPA BROS!!!!!!"

Zane was beginning to get ticked off by these posers. "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!! IF DEFEATING YOU LOUDMOUTHED, MORONIC, POSERS IS GOING TO GET THE STAR SPIRIT HERE, THEN HOW ABOUT YOU STOP FLAPPING YOUR DAMN PIE TRAPS AND STAND THERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR..!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Red interrupted sharply, knowing where this was going. "AS I was saying… Black, Yellow, Green!! Take care of Mario, the goomba, the koopa, and the bob-omb!.." He turned to Zane. "I'll handle this big-mouthed toad, myself." The Koopa Bros looked at Red like a second head had just sprouted from his neck. The gaze easily had two meanings, one; Well okay, thanks for taking care of him for us, two; ARE YOU STARK RAVING MAD?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Red rocketed forward, and slammed Zane full long into the stomach. This blow caused Zane and Red to rocket right back out the door to the tower walkway. Black drew back into his shell and rocketed at Mario. At the last second before hitting Mario he pulled out and threw punches at the plumber. Mario blocked the blows and soon flew backwards using his Power Feather powers, Black followed right along with him, using his ninja prowess. Yellow and Green tossed themselves at Goombario, Kooper, and Bombette. Kooper pulled into his shell, and shot in another direction. Goombario, nor Bombette, was as fast however and were slammed aside by Yellow and Green. Seeing this, Kooper swooped in and picked up Goombario and Bombette, or to be more precise, Goombario first, while Bombette ended up landing on top of his head. With a start Kooper zoomed out the door, Goombario and Bombette hanging on for dear life. Green and Yellow quickly followed behind them.

Meanwhile, back outside, Zane regained himself and blocked Red when he tried to hit him. He punched the koopa away, and turned to help Mario with Black. As for those two, they were throwing punches fiercely. Zane quickly charged and tried to throw a punch at Black… However, he was sent flying at the last second by Red.

Mario finally punched Black away, and pulled out his hammer. When Kooper zoomed by with Goombario and Bombette on his shell, this signaled Green and Yellow to come flying at him. Mario pulled into a 'baseball bat' pose… Before Yellow and Green could get past him, he slammed them both away, sending them flying.

Kooper continued to fly with Bombette and Goombario on his shell. Black suddenly came out of nowhere, and tried to ram them. Kooper dodged. "We can't continue on like this!!! We need to fight back somehow!!" Kooper said.

Goombario looked at Black about to make a counter hit. His thoughts rapidly raced, how were they gonna get out of this mess? A thought struck him! Of course! "Kooper!!!" He called. "Just dodge him a little bit more!! I'll work on something!!!"

"Alright!!! But make it quick!!!" Kooper called, dodging Black's hits. Goombario took out some rope from seemingly nowhere, and gave some to Bombette. "Help me tie this to Kooper!" Bombette nodded and hurried to help Goombario.

Meanwhile, somewhere around the Koopa Path, Zane and Red were now trading blows between each other. Zane threw punches against Red and they managed to connect, while others were dodged. Red threw some punches of his own, and they had the same result. Zane threw a right, then a left, to which Red dodged easily with a backflip. The backflip had him about to land on the back of his shell. But the time was all he needed. He thrusted his legs out in a double-foot kick and slammed Zane in the stomach. The toad was sent flying backward at the blow. He slammed through a rock face and through a bushel of trees.

Upon landing, Zane slowly peeled himself off the ground, and, as soon as he did, slammed his fist against the ground. "DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He slowly stood up and thought about what to do next. "Lets see… Red Ninjakoopa and I are pretty equal in fighting capabilities… The only difference between them, is he's got even sneakier tricks…" Zane started to think about what to do. "I can probably beat him, I just need to be smarter is all…" A thought suddenly struck him. "OR…" He reached into his bag and pulled out the same Fire Flower he had tried to use earlier. "Okay… How to use this…" He tried focusing on the power of the Fire Flower like before… But that did nothing, like before. "OH, FOR CRYIN' OUT!.. WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE, HUH?!?!?!?!?" He shouted at the flower.

… Suddenly, as if to answer his question, a memory of one of his old days at the dojo reappeared in his head. His masters words that day, was what struck extra hard.

"Before you fight, you must learn this single lesson… You must BELIEVE in your own power if you want to show how far it can take you."

Zane took those words to heart, and tried focusing on his own power. The view blackens out completely. Suddenly, a fire appears out of nowhere. This fire symbolizes the fighting spirit deep inside Zane. Suddenly a Fire Flower appears in front of the flame, and vanishes into the flame. The typical upgrade sound effect is heard, and suddenly the flame intensifies into a gigantic blaze.

Back outside, the view shows only Zane's closed eyes. Zane slowly opened them, and looked down at himself… He almost fell clear over at what he saw. His Martial Arts jacket remained as is, but his pants were now fiery orange, and his shoes were Crimson Red. The spots on his mushroom hat (Or whatever that thing on top of their head is.) had changed from Black, to red with black hints. "W-WHAT THE?!?!?" He looked at his new clothes again and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Was this part of the Fire Flower's power? He also felt a power raging through him like an inferno. He also felt something on his fist, he lifted it up… And almost panicked when he saw it was on fire!! He tried to shake it off for a few minutes, before he realized something strange… His hand was on fire… Yet it wasn't hurting. A strange thought came over him. He tried willing the fire away, about to think how stupid… At that thought the fire went away. Zane stared in confusion, was he… In CONTROL of the flames? He tried willing the flames back on his fist. The flames did as such almost immediately.

Zane stared at the flames in surprise. He WAS in control of the flames!! "Hey weaky Toad Dude!! Where are you?" Zane looked up recognizing that voice. It was Red, obviously looking for him. "Come on out dude, I only wanna kick your butt… A LOT..!"

Zane was starting to get very annoyed by that Koopa. He stared down at his flaming fist and smirked sadistically. "Oh yeah, I'm so gonna ENJOY this…" He started running in place… Before he knew what happened the power of the Fire Flower had him zooming at the speed of Mach 1, leaving a small trail of flames behind him from the intense friction.

"Hey dude!! Come on!! I promise it won't be that bad!! As a matter of fact..!" Red continued to shout as he looked. He suddenly heard something that almost sounded like a Sonic Boom coming right at him… And it was coming FAST… He turned to the direction of the noise… Only to see Zane running at him so fast, a certain blue hedgehog would've been proud. And what was more… He was covered with flames like a meteor. "… OOH…!!!!!!!" That was all he had time to say…

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(Right at the moment of the wham, the fighting music changes from Koopa Bros Battle Theme to Zane's (Popple's) Battle Theme.)
Zane's fist collided with Red's stomach. A gigantic gust of fresh air left Red's wind-pipes and it was almost a miracle that his shell didn't break under the fierce hit. Zane didn't stop there however. He quickly followed this up with two punches, two fierce jump kicks, IN THE SAME JUMP, and started throwing punches so fast, it was like a thousand fire covered fists were attacking the poor Ninjakoopa… ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY... He followed this with a tough punch to gut, and followed this punch with an uppercut; his master's Dragon Uppercut Special. However, the power of the Fire Flower kicked in along with it. The uppercut was so TOUGH, that that one single punch hit several times. What's more, his uppercut shot upward with the force of a FREAKING ROCKET, with the sound effects, fire helping him launch upward, and everything!!!

Meanwhile, Kooper's shell was shooting around. On it was Goombario and Bombette now tied to some rope that was tied around Kooper's shell. "Okay, this rope should be 'blast proof' and Fire retardant. So exploding with it wrapped around you shouldn't harm it."

Bombette stared at Goombario questionably. "And you got this rope BECAUSE..?"

Goombario shrugged. "Hey I thought it would be a good idea to have some rope just in case, and this kind was all they had in stock."

Black, Yellow, and Green suddenly appeared their shells shooting at the trio of heroes. Goombario turned to Bombette. "Okay! Just like we planned!" He said. Bombette nodded and lit her fuse… The Koopa Bros came ever closer to the heroes… Closer, so much closer… "NOW!!!!!" Goombario shouted suddenly. Bombette jumped off Kooper's shell and landed right in front of the Koopa Bros.

KAAAAAAABBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The three ninjakoopas were sent flying at the explosion. While they were in the sky, a red blur slammed into Black and Green sending them flying one way. While Red ninjakoopa suddenly slammed into Yellow, and before he could move, a black and red blur slammed them in the opposite direction, the plain red blur did. The red blur turned out to be Mario and he started an uneven fight against Black and Green. Black withdrew into his shell and tried to take a shot at Mario, but Mario disappeared a split second before it hit, making him hit Green instead, who was trying to make a similar shot. They both slammed into each other as a result. Mario reappeared, his hammer at the ready. He reeled back and swung forward, the result was a hammer swing move that had him bouncing off of Green and Black like a pinball bouncing between pinball bumpers. (And just as fast too.)

Back with Red and Yellow, they had similar worries. The Black and Red blur turned out to be Zane, still hyped up on Fire Flower power. Red shot at Zane, to which Zane blocked and they begun an all out exchange of punches and kicks. During this time, Yellow snuck up behind the toad and prepared to make another sneak attack, knowing full well one well placed hit would rob Zane of the Fire Flower Power. He was about to rush forward when Kooper's shell rushed from out of nowhere, and Goombario, still attached by rope to Kooper, slammed him with a flying Headbonk. Due to the rope, Bombette was able to pull Goombario back in, after the hit connected.

Seeing his one chance sunk, Red started to panic. For a split second his punches started to get sloppy… Just what Zane needed. He grabbed Red's fist and quickly threw the poor Koopa back at the tower. As Red went flying, Zane suddenly vanished, and reappeared in Red's flight path. With a powerful upward kick, he was sent flying. As Red went flying, the other Koopa Bros suddenly joined him. Mario and Zane reappeared right above them, moving so fast it almost looked like they teleported. Two strange flashes yet showy flashes appeared from both Zane and Mario.

To sum it all up, the downward kick that followed sent the Koopa Bros through the ceiling of their own tower, and right back on their walkway, at the top floor. Kooper, with Goombario and Bombette on his back, appeared. Zane and Mario right behind them. "Well Bombette, now's a good time as any for payback!" Bombette smirked evilly.

"Yeah! Kaboom time!" Bombette walked inbetween the down Koopa Bros, and her fuse lit. "THIS IS FOR LOCKING ME IN THAT STUPID PRISON CELL AND HURTING MY FRIENDS YOU STUPID SONS OF A..!!!!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(Zane's or Popple's Battle Theme ends abruptively at the kaboom.)
The Koopa Bros were sent flying off the walkway. "WHOOOOOAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The Koopa Bros fell down to the lower levels. Their screams could be heard until a loud thud cut them off.

Everyone looked down the walkway to see the platform to see what had happened. The Koopa Bros missed the ramp at the ground floor, and apparently landed in the giant cell in the basement. "Mario, you have the Power Feather… Go see what happened to them…" Zane said. Mario nodded then, using the Power Feather power, flew down to see where they landed.

As soon as he reached the basement, he saw that the Koopa Bros had indeed landed in the Prison cell. What was surprising was the fact that the wall Bombette blew down was repaired, thus entrapping the Ninja's inside. What's more was the fact that the pieces of the Bowser Mecha was scattered all over the floor. The Ninjakoopa's looked around in a dazed matter. "Hey! HELLOOOO!!!!! Can someone let us out of here?!?!?!?"

Mario flew back upward to the others at the top level. "They-a landed in the-a same prison cell we were stuck in." He said. Everyone stared at Mario with disbelief. "Don't worry, Someone must've repaired it while we were going through the fortress. The Wall's all fixed up, and the Koopa Bros are trapped inside."

Everyone chuckled. "Oh the sweet irony." Goombario said with a grin.

Zane and Bombette leaned over the walkway. "I hope you boys enjoy your time in prison!! Cause I sure DIDN'T!!!!!"

Zane went next. "THAT'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO MESS WITH ZANE T. YOU DANG IDIOT POSERS!!!!!!"

The Koopa Bros screaming could be heard from way down there somewhere. The heroes all gathered up. "Okay we kicked their butts… But where's the Star Spirit?" Zane asked.

Mario slowly tapped Zane on the shoulder. "What?" He asked, turning around. He immediately got his answer… A small ball of light no bigger then a pea appeared in the center of the room, a small high pitched musical note could be heard. It went on for a second before the pea sized light suddenly popped, scattering the light particles to and fro. The light particles rejoined back in the center of the room, making the shape of a card. On one side of the card was an insignia version of Bowser's ugly mug, while on the other side had a picture of a yellow star with a white mustache. Zane recognized the star picture almost immediately. "Eldstar?" Mario walked forward and took the card… A bright flash responded to his touch. When Zane's eyes adjusted he saw an amazing sight. The Card was spinning around fast, floating above Mario's head. The spinning intensified, and a bright light covered the card, from the light, a silhouette of a star could be made out.

One final flash was enough to end the light show. The light was so bright it could've blinded everyone, if they hadn't covered their eyes fast enough. The light died down after a few seconds. The group took a second to readjust their eyes and looked back at Mario. They almost gawked at what they saw… Floating above Mario's head was none other then Eldstar himself! No Holograms, no fakes, no nothing, it was just him in all of his glory. "Phew!! Thank you Mario for getting me out of that cramped space!"

"ELDSTAR!!!" Zane called. Eldstar looked to Zane. "Is it really you?"

Eldstar looked upon the boy, almost flattered by the attention. "Of course it's me! Who else would it be?"

It was quiet for a second… "YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!" Went Goombario, and Zane. "We rescued the first Star Spirit!!!!" Kooper immediately joined in on the celebration.

Bombette stared at the festivities for a second, before shrugging. "Aw, what the heck?" She said to herself before joining in too.

Mario and Eldstar chuckled a little at the festivities.


(The Paper Mario 'End of Chapter' song plays in the background.)
Narrator: With the recently acquired help from his new friends, Zane, Goombario, Kooper, and Bombette,

Mario was successful in saving the first Star Spirit, named Eldstar.

With his new friends, Mario will continue to journey forth into the Mushroom Kingdom to save the other Star Spirits,

Their Adventure has just begun!

(Fade to black.)


The view shows an otherwise empty room... After a second, a ball of ghostly purple energy appears. It chuckled evilly before disappearing to who knows where.
Me: And there you have it!! Chapter 11; Vs the Koopa Bros!

MMSB: YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THAT SUPER MARIO BROS Z FIGHTING, BABY!!!!!!!!!!! (Laughs histarically.)

Ace: Yeah, that fighting made the entire scene! I especially liked it when Zane finally learned how to use the Fire Flower. The result was COMPLETELY HILLARIOUS!!!!!!

Otto: (Smirking like the devil, that pretty much said he enjoyed it.)

Wally: Ditto! Although you seemed to leave out the Koopa Bros Special Attack...

Me: In a sense, the Koopa Bros never had time to use it. (Turns to Nutcase and friends.) What'd you guys think? (Turns to the screen.) That goes for you, the readers, Too!!!! (Gives a peace sign.) R&R PEOPLE!!

Ace and Wally: Until next update!!