Chapter Twenty-One: The Kingdom's Extra Life
Thanks to everyone who's continued to enjoy this story! We've now passed forty followers! I'm so glad this story has been so positively received. Please keep on reading, it only gets better from here!
It was an early morning in Toad Town. The sun was just starting to come up over the Toad Houses, their roofs shining with fresh coats of paint. Already Luigi could see Toads hard at work, tirelessly hammering and painting away to remove all traces of the disastrous battle. Luigi was grateful that everybody was pitching in. He couldn't be everywhere at once. Banktoad was leading the rebuilding efforts, Toadette was co-ordinating the new defence plans...his job was building a group of fighters up to par with his and his brother's allies.
Luigi stood in the town square, his back to the centre fountain. While the Bowser statue was long gone, it had yet to have been replaced by a more appropriate Peach one. Before him were a ground of thirteen Toads, the only people in Toad Town who had been confidant enough to take up his offer of training. Now that Luigi looked the many-coloured group over, he wondered if any of them were having second thoughts. They all were shivering and were looking at him like he was more Bowser then Luigi.
"M...Mr. Luigi?" asked Billy, the yellow Toad who Luigi knew as the lazy member of the Toad Brigade. "What do we...do, exactly?"
Luigi breathed in the cool, pleasant-smelling morning air. "O.k." he said. "We're-a going back to the basics. When my bro and I first started up our plumbing business in New Donk, we weren't heroes. We were just ordinary guys. I was...well..." he scratched his head in embarrassment, "Even more ordinary then Mario, actually. When he was fighting Donkey Kong up on that construction site, I was having lunch at the New Donk Deli!"
"B...but you became strong later, right?" a red-capped Toad asked.
"Yeah, didn't you beat some ghost king or something?" a green-capped one chimed in enthusiastically.
Luigi sighed. "I'll get to that." he said, inwardly appreciating their reactions. They might be completely unused to combat, but at least they were ready to learn. That was a good start. Luigi paused for a moment, listening to the rhythemic sounds of pounding hammers and cutting saws. It brought him back to the good old days in New Donk City, when he was fresh out of high school and none of this Koopa business seemed even possible. "The New Donk sewers used to be a real nightmare." he recollected. "Giant crabs and Spinies all over the place. That's where my brother and I learned how to jump. Come to think of it," he smiled, "New Donk City really should've got it's act together when it came to it's plumbers. We had to face all kind of life-threatening stuff!" Luigi looked around at the Toad Houses surrounding him. Come to think of it, a lot of the gardens were looking a lot nicer, too. Long-overgrown lawns were being cut and out-of control bushes were being trimmed. He hoped none of the Toads had had any nasty encounters with Piranha Plants. "See those houses?" Luigi asked, pointing to them. The Toads obediently nodded. "I want you to climb all the way up to the roof." he ordered. "Then I want you to make it all the way to Peach's Castle without touching the ground! Don't worry if you fall; it won't hurt that much. You probably won't be able to make it first try, but practice makes perfect!"
A couple of the Toads cheered in excitement, although others shuddered with nervousness. "Race yah guys!" a cocky green Toad smirked, before running to the nearest blue-roofed Toad House. Slowly but surely, the rest of the Toads began to follow until only Billy was left.
"Come on, Billy!" Luigi urged, putting on his best "inspiring" voice. He doubted it sounded that good, although he hoped it got the point across. "You're doing this to help save the Mushroom Kingdom, remember?"
"I...it's not that." Billy admitted, looking towards the Toad House. The green Toad leaped up, although his jump was not nearly high enough and he slid down the house's smooth roof, crashing into another Toad behind him. "When we were fighting against Boom Boom...I...I was useless, Luigi." he admitted, his eyes drooping in shame. "I got so scared I hit behind a bush while everybody else risked their lives to take the town back! I want to fight the Koopas, Luigi, I really do! But how am I supposed to get braver when I don't know a single fighting move?"
Luigi looked closely at Billy. He barely remembered his first battle, since he'd been barely four when it had happened. It had been up against one of the alien Shroobs, quite a few decades ago. He and his brother had fought to save the lives of two strangers (which had later turned out to be his and Mario's older selves, which was really weird now that he thought of it). He remembered enough to know that he'd been terrified of the aliens' sharp fangs and dangerous laser weapons, but he'd kept on fighting to save the strangers' lives. "If...if you really push yourself, Billy, you'll find a way." he finally said. "You know what? I...I'm scared of ghosts more then anything else in the world. I wanted nothing more then to run out of that haunted mansion. But you why I didn't? Because I did it to save Mario! You're fighting for all your friends and family, Billy!"
Billy smiled shyly. "Yeah..." he admitted. "I guess I've just got to push myself. Hey..." he said, blushing in embarrassment. "There's this book my dad had called "Techniques of the Dragon Driftway Lakitu Masters...mind of you teach me some of the moves in it? They look really powerful, but they're also super complex."
Dragon Driftway Lakitu masters? Luigi remembered seeing paintings of them during his time racing down said drift-way. From what he knew, they all died out two hundred years ago. Whatever book Billy's dad had picked up had to be super rare! "Yeah...I don't know much about martial arts." Luigi admitted. "But I'll teach everyone the basics of fighting later. That should help you be able to understand the stuff in the book."
Billy's eyes lit up. "Thanks, Luigi!" he exclaimed, before running off the join his companions. The first few Toads had already made it onto the Toad House and across the first jump, and the ones who hadn't yet made it were hard at work trying to nail that perfect bounce. Luigi turned away from them, a contented feeling in his heart. This Toads were a long way off from becoming the next Yoshi or Captain Toad, but everyone had to start somewhere!
Leaving the Toads to their own devices, Luigi decided to take a walk down the main avenue. The streets, he reflected, were noticeably clean. No more busted up tank parts or broken-off airship propellers. He trusted Toadette was putting the scrap metal to good use. As Luigi admired the cheerful, brand-new red paint on a Toad House which had had a caved-in roof since before yesterday, Luigi suddenly became aware of two familiar figures walking up the road. Out of reflex he almost started getting into a fighting position, before he reminded himself that the Mushroom Kingdom's two most notorious criminals were fighting on their side for once.
"Luigi!" Waluigi exclaimed, running forward on his skinny feet with such large strides Luigi was surprised he didn't fall. "You're looking so good today, I'd almost challenge you to a sports race if Wario wasn't around."
"Wasting time wastes money!" Wario shouted as he ran up, although at a much slower pace due to his stubby feet.
"H...how's business?" Luigi asked. It was still going to take a while getting used to talking to these guys as allies.
"Business is booming." Wario smirked.
"Literally." Waluigi added. "We just dropped off more Bob-ombs then you probably have room for."
"Yeah, you better put those to good use!" Wario growled fiercely. "I had to cancel my deal with the Pianta Syndicate for this! Once this war is over, I better be rolling in dough!"
"I'm sure you'll have more coins then you know what to do with." Luigi replied. Honestly he didn't know for sure, but although it made him nervous he was going to have to assume they'd find away to make it work. Wario's help was too critical for their resistance movement.
"Hey, Wario! Thanks for the bombs!" came Toadette's voice as she ran down the main road, her pigtails flying behind her.
"Try not to blow yourself up." Wario grumbled. Luigi could see he was uncomfortable with the idea of a Toad handling his explosives.
"Yeah, if you drop it at least drop it near one of them and not me!" Waluigi added.
Toadette rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you two." she sighed. "We're not going to light the Bob-ombs when we're holding them. We're going to fling them at the Koopas with catapults. Which reminds me, Luigi..." she pointed towards the edge of Toad Town. Luigi looked up to see some Toads stacking piles of jump and hammering wood to make a makeshift wall around the town. It wasn't that high yet, but they were hard at work. Dozens of Toads were carrying pieces of wood and metal from destroyed Koopa Troop weapons or collapsed Toad Houses to contribute to the wall building effort. "How do you like it?" she asked. "We're already getting the catapults ready, along with some of the Bill Blasters the Koopa Troop garrison kept in the castle. We're going to mount them on the wall so we can give the Koopas a little present in case they try taking the town away from us again!"
"Wow." Luigi commented, marvelling at the speed and efficiency of the workers. "Toadette, this is amazing! I can't believe you've already got the town defended."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that." she replied, blushing with embarrassment. "But it's good start!"
"So long as it keeps those shellcreepers from getting any stronger, I like it." Wario said roughly, cracking his knuckles.
"I second that!" Waluigi added.
Luigi nodded his head as a Toad used a rope pulley to drag a shiny Bill Blaster to the top of a completed section of wall. Things were really looking up for Toad Town. Even though things still looked bleak, it was a comforting thing to know that at least one part of the Mushroom Kingdom belonged it it's rightful owners once again.
Roughly three miles from Toad Town, where Princess Peach's castle was barely visible as a speck in the distance, five Koopa Troop battleships flew over the plains, casting massive shadows over the ground. The rising sun glinted off their shining cannons and spinning propellers. The Koopa Empire flag proudly flew from each ship, a black flag against a blue sky.
There was a feeling of excitement on the bridge of the foremost ship, the Charvaargh. The crew, most of them Koopas wearing the signature brown flight caps of the Koopa air navy, sat at their control consoles and preformed routine tasks like usual, but all eyes were looking through the massive bridge windows at the approaching town. The huge screens which were at both sides of the bridge, curving from the wall onto the roof, showed the ominious words: TOAD TOWN: 2.86 MILES. At the front of the bridge, the pilot gripped the wheel tightly, holding it on course. There had been no official confirmation of combat, but many were hopeful. The new battleships, for all their power, had seen scarce actual battle and most of the crew were disappointed they hadn't been sent down to Sector Two to fight in the civil war.
At the back of the ship, Captain Gai sat on his command seat, which was perched on top of a low raised platform. Gai was a red Shy Guy, and was a tad bit more nervous about the whole idea then the rest of his crew where. After all, he knew the full story (as in, the other Mario bro was present), and they did not. A holographic screen popped into existence before Gai, showing none other then General Flame himself, seated comfortably in his office. "We're approaching fast, general!" Gai announced. "I suspect we've already been spotted."
"Do not engage without my order." Flame said sternly. "We must play this safe, captain. After all, I do not want it to seem as if I am wasting valuable resources that could be used against Prince Roy's delinquents. Stay within a one mile radius and await further instruction."
"On it, sir." Gai replied with a salute.
Flame nodded. "Yes, yes, very good." he replied. "Blueshell, some tea." he said off-handedly to somebody Gai couldn't see.
"Yes, Governor Flame." a bored, sounding voice replied, handing Flame a flame-orange teacup. The general sipped it, before continuing.
"We are playing a risky game here, Gai." he said. "We can not let the mushroom rebels think we are afraid of them, and yet we can not let Prince Bowser Jr think that we are being negligent here. If the rebels take any action against us, I would like to be informed immediately. Do you understand this, Captain Gai?"
"Naturally, sir." Gai replied with another crisp salute.
"Good." Flame nodded. "I'll leave you to it here. Remember...nobody gets in or out. The Mushroom Kingdom is mine, as entrusted to me by Emperor Bowser himself. It's best they remember that!"