A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy.
animegamefanatic: Uh Koopa kids...that's calling the kettle-black. you guys are jerks.
but why would bowser keep his kids' real name a secret...that makes no sense.
This will be explained in future issues.
NormanWhitesmith: Interesting. I wonder what will become of everyone, especially with the whole name deal
I realized that in my last review for the dare section that I accidentally left out the word "princess" and that the request looked extraordinarily weird. Time to take another shot at this and hope I don't ruin everything again!
Just a reminder to please send your questions and dares in the PMs rather than the reviews. Thank you! :)
breath20k: An a-maze-ing chapter and the nicknames of the Koopalings remind me of the animated series back in 1990!
Thanks! And yes, the Koopalings' nicknames are the ones used in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3!
I do not own anything in this fanfic except for any original content that I come up with. Mario belongs to Nintendo, which does not endorse or affiliate itself with this fanfic. Constructive criticism is allowed, but please, no flames.
And now, on to the comic!
Project Koopa, Part 2: Project Koopa
The princess was in a tight spot. The Koopa Pack was headed their way. They did not look happy, and if anything else, they were confused. Besides, they could easily mistaken the defects for real minions.
"Well?" started Triclyde. "What's going on here?"
"Um..." Carrie started before Silas cut her off.
"Yes, well, one of the patrols found the princess alone near the charity garden opening, and they assigned us the task of taking her to the prison."
The looks on the Koopa Pack's faces told him they weren't buying it.
"Ze prison is zat way," Mouser pointed in the direction of the cells.
"Saaaayy..." Triclyde slithered closer to the defects. "You're not defecting on us, are you?"
Carrie was almost caught off guard. "What? No!" she sputtered. "We're loyal minions of King Koopa! Fiends to the end! Right?"
"Then you should have absolutely no trouble taking her to the dungeon," continued Triclyde.
"Go on. Move," ordered McKoopa.
"We'll be watching you," warned Mouser.
"Okay, okay, we're going!" whined Marcus as the four escorted Toadstool forward.
Toadstool's heart sank. She had come so far, only to have all of this progress done away with, thanks to the Koopa Pack. How could they have known what she was doing in Castle Koopa. More importantly, why were they suspicious of the defects?
There was one other thing Toadstool noticed about the Koopa Pack. They seemed to be more serious about their job than they usually were. Perhaps it had to do with the completion of Castle Koopa. Then it hit her. Now that Koopa had a permanent settlement, and was gaining new recruits every day, she realized that Koopa was no longer a mere boss of a group of Koopas.
He was a commander, dressed to conquer.
"In," ordered Mouser once they arrived moments later. Yup, something was definitely different with the Koopa Pack.
"Enjoy a little down time in prison while King Koopa finishes his plan to conquer the land," taunted McKoopa as the Koopa Pack walked away laughing.
Toadstool looked around for the defects. She saw them approaching her a moment later. Mallet pulled a key from his shell and approached the door.
"Sorry about that," he apologized as he inserted the key into the lock. "The Koopa Pack aren't too bright. They shouldn't have given us Hammer Bros. the keys to the cells."
"Thanks!" thanked Toadstool as she stepped out of the cell.
"Don't mention it."
"So," said a somewhat nonchalant Carrie, "What should we do next? Is there a nearby air duct we can-"
"Right there!" Silas pointed to an air duct that was practically right outside the cell formerly occupied by the princess.
The princess looked up at the grille. "Well... it does look kinda high up... If this is a standard thirteen-foot ceiling, i'd say it's about eleven feet up."
"Carrie could probably fly you up there," suggested Silas, but Carrie shook her head. "My wings aren't strong enough to airlift anyone quite yet."
"Hmm..." Marcus pondered the predicament. "Minion stack?"
"Here we go again," sighed Mallet.
"It's the only way we can get up there," insisted Marcus. "Actually, I'll go up there with the princess. She'll need someone to guide her through the air vents."
"Good idea," agreed Silas. "Right, Mallet will be at the bottom of the stack, then me, then Carrie. Marcus will enter the duct first, then the princess."
"Again?!" complained Mallet. "Why do I always get the bottom of the stack?"
But Carrie ignored him. "Wouldn't it be better if we send the princess up first? That way she can help Marcus up, since he doesn't have hands."
"Good idea." Silas handed her a screwdriver. "Here, can you carefully unscrew the grille from the wall?"
"Sure thing!" She took the tool and flew up to the grille to get to work. After each screw was unscrewed, she dropped it into Silas' hands. After the fourth screw, however, the weight of the fully-detached grill started to pull her down, and Silas and Toadstool worked together to hold it up and lean it against the wall without any noise.
"That was close," breathed Carrie as she dropped to the ground for a quick rest.
"It's not over yet," said Silas. "Right, Mallet, we need you for the stack."
As much as the Hammer Bro hated this, he walked underneath the vent and squared his shoulders as Silas climbed onto them. Next Carrie lighted upon Silas' shoulders.
"Ready, Princess?" verified Silas.
"Ready."
She carefully began ascending the minion stack, quickly finding out that it wasn't as easy-
"Ow! That's my head!"
"Careful! My entire body is basically a head!"
-as she thought it would be.
Once she reached the top, she pulled herself up into the duct. Looking down, she saw Marcus nimbly ascend the stack and leap into the duct with her. Carrie flew off of Silas as he was getting down from Mallet's shoulders.
"If you could just scoot over to the side, I'll lead you to Project Koopa," directed Marcus as Toadstool complied, even if space was tight.
"All right then! Shall we check out the Koopa king's plan?" asked Marcus, his voice filled with adventure.
"Yes, let's!" agreed Toadstool as they began crawling through the duct.
Toadstool was surprised at how clean the air duct was. Then again, it was brand new. She secretly hoped no one was performing maintenance on it right now.
"So Princess," began Marcus as they took a left, "what's going on with Mario?"
"Oh, the usual," she replied. "Right now he and Luigi are wrapping up with the grand opening of the charity garden."
"Do they know about your mission?" he asked next.
"No."
"That's good," replied Marcus as they took the next right. "The fewer who know about it, the better. Otherwise, King Koopa might set his plan in motion much sooner than expected, and we don't want that, right?"
"Right," agreed Toadstool. "What is Koopa's plan, anyway?"
"All I was able to gather was that he has a plan for Mushroom Land."
"Yikes! I don't like the sound of that."
After taking one last left turn, Marcus stopped. "If my sense of direction is correct, we have arrived at our destination. Are you ready for this?"
"I am."
She took a deep breath, and she and Marcus peered through the grille into the room below. She had to hold back a gasp at the sight that met her eyes.
It was the largest invention she had ever seen. Taking up most of the room's space, it was covered in a massive blue tarp, which had several holes for minions to enter and exit the project. It was most definitely a long object - or was it wide? She would know soon enough.
It took Princess Toadstool a moment to regain her composure. "So... that's Project Koopa."
Marcus nodded.
She looked down. "Is there a way we can get closer?"
But Marcus held her back. "Princess, it's fifty feet down, and there's practically no way back up if you do survive the fall. Besides, they'd catch you before you hit the ground."
The princess blushed. "Oh dear... And to think my ambition almost got the better of me."
Turning back to the massive project, she asked, "Do you know what the purpose of Project Koopa is?"
Marcus sighed. "Well, the thing is, King Koopa never tells his minions anything about Project Koopa or what it's for."
"Then how do you know about Project Koopa?"
"Carrie heard from one of the minions who accidentally leaked something to his fellow minions. Apparently Project Koopa is supposed to be a mega weapon built to aid Koopa in the conquest of Mushroom Land."
Letting those words soak in, Toadstool looked down at the construction scene. Materials were being carried into and out of the project, and Hammer Bros were shouting orders from the ground below.
"Who all are allowed in there?" she asked next.
"From what I was able to figure, only Koopa, the Koopalings, and a select few workers are allowed in the work zone."
"What about the Koopa Pack?"
"They're not allowed in there. Koopa needs someone to keep the castle under control."
After watching the construction for a little while longer, Marcus turned back to the princess. "Are you ready to head back?" he asked.
Toadstool nodded. "Yes. Let's head back."
They turned toward the direction they came from and began their crawl back.
"Thoughts?" Marcus inquired.
"You know, I thought it was interesting to see that it had a tarp over it, even if it's inside Castle Koopa in a secret room that's closed off to the rest of the minions."
"Yeah, that got me too," the Goomba replied. "I think it's because Koopa doesn't want to take any unnecessary risks with this project."
The princess was just about to say she agreed when they became aware of a voice coming from another room. They paused, listening to the voice.
"...and by morning, all of Mushroom Land will finally be in my hands."
Toadstool and Marcus stared at each other, eyes wide.
"He's invading tonight?!" said a shocked Toadstool.
"We need to tell the others about this," said a concerned Marcus as they hurried through the air vent.
Moments later, Toadstool and Marcus returned to the entrance of the vent to find Silas and Carrie waiting for them.
"Uh, where's Mallet?" wondered the princess as Carrie flew Marcus to the ground.
"He said he needed to check if the coast is still clear," answered Silas.
Carrie then flew back up to airlift Toadstool down. But as her wings weren't ready for such a task, the two ended up dropping to the floor instead. The princess stood up, pulled Carrie to her feet, and turned to the others.
"Now that our mission is complete, how are we going to get out of here? The guards are bound to be awake, and there are no warp pipes in Dark Land."
She had a feeling something was wrong with this whole situation - Mallet's unexplained disappearance was just the start. But add in a sudden rumbling from nearby, and the recipe for instant trouble is served.
"I don't think you'll need to worry about zat," replied an all-too-familiar voice.
The four turned to look. There, in front of them, was a giant wooden tank piloted by the Koopa Pack. Mouser was standing atop it, Triclyde was controlling the tank, and McKoopa was manning the cannon.
"You now know too much about Project Koopa for your own good," said Mouser. "I'm afraid we and our sweet tank will have to put an end to you and your treasonous friends."
Oh no! It looks like the princess has a tank full of trouble on her hands! Mallet is nowhere to be found! And an invasion may be imminent! Whatever will happen next?! Come back for the thrilling conclusion of the Princess Toadstool Miniseries!
Until then, prepare for part three of Cracking the Koopa Code!
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A/N: I have to admit, this miniseries is probably my favorite story I've written in here. In fact, I think it's a much better story than Cracking the Koopa Code in my opinion. The Koopa Pack is utilizing a tank that has appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, sans the Rocky Wremches.
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"Hey, paisanos," said Mario, "it's time for Ask the Mario Characters! Where you, the readers, get to send us questions and dares, and we'll answer them and act them... if we feel like it. Today's dares are once again from breath20k!"
"Also," added Luigi, "We're decked out for Easter, hence the rabbit ears on just about everybody."
"How humiliating," sighed Spore.
"Tell me about it," sympathized Fryguy. "I mean, mine burnt right off. How cool is that?"
"'Cool' is ironic, coming from you," said Larry.
Fryguy gasped. "I meant 'hot'!"
Suuuuure you did," said Iggy.
Fryguy just pouted.
"All right, our first dare," announced Mario, "is for King Koopa. Eat a cheeseburger from Burger Shroom while blindfolded and he only has fifty seconds to finish! The referee is going to be Spore."
"Fifty seconds?!" exclaimed Koopa.
Spore snickered. "Yep."
"But it took me a whole minute to eat and digest a carrot!"
"The Giga-Carrot is one thing, but this is only a cheeseburger," reassured Pauline.
"You're right."
Spore tied the blindfold on as a Koopa King Deluxe Cheeseburger appeared in Koopa's hands.
"Ready?" asked Spore as a timer set for fifty seconds appeared on the wall.
"Oh yeah."
"All right then, pal! Three... two... one... GO!"
Immediately Koopa was into his burger. Everyone present watched as he took bite after bite. Soon Spore gave the announcement.
"Forty-nine seconds!" he exclaimed.
"I... did it..." said a bewildered Koopa.
"Yes, you did," said Toad. "You practically inhaled that burger!"
"And soon, I'll be inhaling everything else as well" Koopa boasted.
"You bring up a good point, King Dad," piped up Iggy. "Why is Bowser's Inside Story getting a remake and not Partners in Time?"
"Well," explained Koopa, "being a living vacuum is better for my health than being blown out of a volcano. Besides, I was an unworthy final boss, Nintendo's quietly removing E. Gadd from their games, and no one knows who Stuffwell is."
"Yeah, talking suitcases are weird," said Luigi. "How many times did he say 'BACK TO ADVENTURE!'?"
"Enough to wish E. Gadd programmed him with a mute button," groned Fryguy. "Or I could just turn down the volume on my DS."
"Back to dares!" announced Mario in his best Stuffwell imitation. "This next one is for the Koopalings: For the Koopalings: Have a race against each other to the finish line and the referee is Toad."
"All right then, line up!" announced Toad as the Koopalings rose from their seats.
"I've been meaning to stretch my legs," said Roy as he lined up with the others.
"Ready? Set! Go!" shouted Toad as the Koopalings took off.
"So how long is this race gonna be?" asked McKoopa.
Toad frowned. "Well... I never really planned a course, so it could be a while."
"It's good to see my kids getting exercise," smiled Koopa. "Any more dares or questions?"
"Yes, we do have one more question," answered Mario as he looked at his envelope. "And it's for the princess! Question for Toadstool: If you could name one character in your side story, who could it be?"
"Hmm... Who would my best defect be..." mused Toadstool. "I would have to say Marcus. He's been the closest to me through this whole infiltration mission. Silas and Carrie are great partners to have. And then there's Mallet."
"Also, breath20k says Happy Easter!" said Mario. "Thus concludes another edition of AtMC! Yes, the Koopalngs are still running. Who knows when they'll stop? Anyway, until next time, everybody, do the Mario!"