Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever
Escape from Special World (Chapter 25)
Created: 6/27 - 629/17
Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo
Author note: Second to last normal chapter, but a I have an epilogue or two planned.
At the International Medical University of Special World
Ludwig led the way as he and the four doctors, along with Dr Mario and Metal Mario exited the conference room and marched right past Peach and Junior.
Peach immediately called out, "What's going on? Wait, all of you?"
The clacking of everyone else's feet faded in the distance as Doctor Mario stayed behind. "Princess, I didn't know you were here!"
Peach gave a quick polite bow. "Well, I'm so relieved to see you. Now we have hope!"
"Maybe," Mario muttered, leaving the conference room. Peach noticed his pale face, which Dr Mario noticed as well.
"Er uh, Mario old pal here didn't realize that something's different about this Mushroom Flu."
Peach nodded. "Uh huh? Wait, so you still have the cure, right?"
"Hmm. Well, no. We're heading to the lab to make a new one right now-"
"Doctor!" Metal Mario called in a stern voice from all the way down the hall. Dr Mario slumped a bit and followed him without any further word.
"Mario," Peach said the moment they were out of site, "what is wrong with them?"
Mario shrugged. "He's been with him since the accident."
"Accident?"
"I dunno what he meant. Anyway, these doctors, including Dr Mario possibly, are all a little off. All we can do is follow for now. Come on Junior…...Junior?!"
Junior glanced up from the video game his face was glued to. "Huh? What?" The kindergartener dragged his feet as Mario and Peach moved away from the conference room and to the lab just around the corner.
Displayed above the double doors was a sign saying, "Authorized personnel only! Chemical, Behavioral, Disease, and 'Human' testing ahead."
Inside, the lab was the size of a basketball court but with white walls and a low ceiling filled with rows upon rows of bluish fluorescent lighting. Occupying most of the floor were various testing stations, a few of them occupied by scientists the crew hadn't seen before. The air of buzz and excitement was unmistakeable. As Mario and crew crept towards Ludwig and the rest, they experienced the sound of bubbling chemicals, exclamations from scientists due to successes, or possibly failures, and clicking keyboards from scientists detailing new discoveries.
Junior's jaw was hung open for over a minute. "SO COOL! Hey! I think I wanna be a scientist!"
"Not here, Junior. This is like a science fair gone wild, and you're likely to blow something up!"
"Aww, but Peach that sounds cool!"
Peach shook her head again. "You see, that's exactly why you don't need to be one."
Mario chucked. "Peach, ease up! It's not like you're his mother!"
Peach lightly slapped Mario in the back of his head which resulted in a laugh from all three. They caught up just in time to see Dr. Toad sit in a barstool at a lab station with Dr Topper, the X-naut, and Dr Shrinkasaurus standing close by. Ludwig, who stood to the other side of Dr Toad, put a thumb drive into the laptop on the lab table.
"..And so, the file with my research notes is on this, along with Dr Mario's for reference." Ludwig pressed a few keys on the computer and when he'd apparently opened the file, the other doctors nodded appreciatively.
Dr. Toad gave the can of FungusUp one more curious look. "I'm going prep this for the official analysis. I know we already know what this is, but that's just the proper procedure you see." He yawned afterwards.
"Hey guys?" Mario spoke up. For the first time, the doctors looked up at the three. "What's going on?"
"Why are you here?" The X-naut scoffed.
"What do you mean?!" Mario responded in kind.
"Wait outside," Ludwig said.
"But-" Mario looked around. "Hey, where did Dr Mario go?"
Ludwig's eyes darted across the lab. "Yes, good question..."
"Well?! He's kind of important isn't he?"
"Not really. We have his notes after all." Dr Toad meticulously poured the FungusUp into test tube for the chemical analysing as he spoke. "Who invited him anyway?"
Mario was about to step forward before Peach prodded him lightly. "Mario...let's just do what they say for now…"
Mario reluctantly listened to her words. With nothing better to do, they stood right outside the lab doors in the nearly vacant hallways..
Mario groaned loud enough for it to echo. "I can't believe it! After everything I've been through, the battles I've fought, our biggest obstacles are..nonchalant doctors?!"
Peach sat down in one of the waiting chairs in the hallway. "Maybe we just have to believe, Mario.."
Mario sighed. "I BELIEVE these 'doctors' just want to let our friends d-"
"What, Mario?" Peach cut him off.
Mario opened his mouth to speak but then saw that Junior had wandered down the hall a few yards and had his ear pressed against a door. "Junior?! Gosh, I'm a bad babysitter…"
Junior took a few steps back. "Shhh! People are talking in here," he whispered, "and it sounds funny!"
Just then the door opened and Dr Mario emerged. The look on his face when he saw the trio clearly indicated that he was up to..something.
Mario scratched his head. "Umm, doctor?"
He flushed. "Hey Mario old pal! Uh, what are ya doin out here?"
"The scientists thought it best for us to leave so they can take their sweet time in peace I guess. Come back over here, Junior. Now why weren't you in the lab, doctor? And...your jacket. You might want to fix that..."
Dr Mario looked down at his white doctor's jacket, realizing one button was in the hole above where it was supposed to go. Mario remembered that it wasn't like that back in the conference room.
"Doc, tell me what's going on?" Mario asked seriously.
Creak! The door swung open again and Metal Mario stepped out holding a black medical bag with 'Dr. Mario' printed on it. "Uh, this a bad moment?" he asked in a grunt.
Dr Mario dropped to his knees. "OKAY! I admit it! It's the only way I can keep the pain down!" He lifted his shirt to reveal his abdomen with a large bandaid on it. "I have to take the shots three times a day and Metal Mario, the old goat, won't let me skip a dose!"
Mario, Peach, and even Junior gasped. The red and infected looking injection site wasn't normal, and it didn't take a doctor to know that.
Dr Mario pulled himself up. "Wanna know why I wasn't in Brawl?"
"You...went back to your practice, right?" Peach asked.
"Yeah. It was fine for a while but being the famed curer of Mushroom Flu only get's your rep so far. I started venturing out for patients and well...one night I was deep in a remote Spear Guy village in Yoshi's Island. I'd spent the day doing the basics,. Checkups, a few non serious in office surgeries, and making sure the water supply was clean. Problem is, the eh, local native doctors who often made diseases worse with their mumbo jumbo practices-"
"Excuse the doc's secularism," Metal Mario interrupted teasingly.
"...Right. Point is, I just wanted to help out but that was taking customers from the local docs whose medical training may or may not be up to par with science. They made it known that they didn't like me. So it was night and I was in my tent as I'd already traveled miles away from the village and in the morning I'd finish the trek to the docks. Around 1 A.M. I suddenly felt a horrible pain near my stomach! Someone had hit me through the tent with a poisoned dart!"
No one audibly gasped this time, but the shock was clear on the trio's faces.
Dr Mario nodded as he continued. "Yeah, scary enough if that happens in civilization! Imagine my distress when this happened to me in the middle to nowhere and I was the only real doctor around! There was no way I'd make it back to the village so I had to do something quick. It's experimental and I haven't even released it to the medicine board. See here." Dr Mario took his bag from Metal Mario and grabbed a small bottle of clear liquid from it. A label on the bottle said '1-UP X'.
"So I had a single 1-up Mushroom on me, but I couldn't give it to myself if I was already dead! I spent the next hour extracting the key nutrients from it. My vision was getting hazier as I worked but I did it. You see, I needed to find a way to make it work while I'm still alive so I took what I'd extracted, got a spare clean syringe, and hoped for the best."
"What happened next?" Junior asked, bouncing up and down.
Dr Mario chucked. "I'm still here aren't I, kid? I woke up, still on this Earth, and made it to the docks, then back home. I'd got invited to Smash 4, so the future was bright!"
Mario and Peach stood for a moment, taking the story in when Junior spoke up. "Hey doctor, uh..if your medicine worked, why did you have that HUGE mark on your stomach?"
"Oh, yeah," Mario agreed. "If that was before Smash 4, that's been years ago. Surely you didn't get poisoned again in that same spot. And your cure, wouldn't life restoring mushrooms in shot form be a big discovery?"
The gleam left from Dr Mario's eyes. "...About that...there's a reason I haven't gotten it put on the federal medicine board. It does and doesn't work. It keeps the poison way for a while, then the pain comes back. So, I was admitted at the Smash Mansion but you can't enter with an existing medical ailment. If I sought out a real cure, it would be known that I came in sick and I'd be kicked out again. I couldn't miss the opportunity and since my medicine wasn't official I passed it off as 'protein' shots. As long as I keep taking it I'm relatively alright. They don't know about the injection site obviously. It is looking rough isn't it?"
"You think?!" Mario exclaimed, flabbergasted.
"The doc's addicted now! He just hires me so he can pretend he wouldn't give himself more doses if he was left alone with it!" Metal Mario jest grimly.
Mario collapsed into a chair in a daze. "I cannot...wow….I just. Momma mia…"
Dr Mario avoided eye contact with anyone. "I'm sorry…"
"You should get in there with the other doctors," Peach spoke with disappointment hiding behind her calm tone. "They mentioned you.."
"Oh yeah. Thank you Princess.." Doctor Mario entered the lab doors while Metal Mario stayed outside with the rest. Peach and Junior had already set down by then but Metal Mario leaned against the wall and crossed his arms contemplatively.
"The folly of humans," he mused.
The X-naut Phd jerked his head backwards from the microscope. "My my! Ludwig!"
The titular Prince diverted his attention from the laptop. His desk was just across in the little alleys that separated workstations in the lab. "Yes?"
"This is amazing work. Who else would think of reanimating viruses from the cure? Have you ever.." the X-naut lowered his voice, "thought of trying this with other diseases?"
Ludwig sat his tea down, and swiveled the stool to face him completely. "...What do you mean?"
"I know about you Bowser people. You can do this in your lab, can you not?"
Ludwig shrugged. "Correct. Your point?"
"Lay off," Dr Toad said as he pulled long beige sheets of paper from the laser printer to the side of the lab table, "you two can rule the world together later. You might want to see these test results."
"But we know what we are dealing with," the X-naut protested. Nonetheless, he was peeking over the shoulders of Ludwig and Dr Toad as they scrutinized the complex codes that were printed on the paper. After a minute Dr Toad stepped back in amazement, stepping on the toes of the X-naut.
"Sorry, Morris! If you wanted to see, we had a spare stool."
Morris the X-naut held his head high. "Umm, that will not be necessary. I don't trust computers or the weird paper they materialize!" He limped back to his microscope and old fashioned pen and paper notes.
Dr Toad turned back to Ludwig. "So, anyway...this is some complex stuff. I must mention though that I was glancing at your notes on the computer and it's incomplete! Could you fill me in?"
Ludwig nodded. "Those weren't written during the creation process, but later. Right before I left for here actually."
"Yeah I see that, but can't you just tell us the missing details? That's why we have you here, right?" Dr Toad nudged Ludwig like an old friend.
"Of course, but my memory escapes..me. Can we not just analyze this data?" He sipped on his tea, hoping that would stifle further questions.
"Sure, no rush! I'll look over this after my break. We should have the complete composition examination in, say…...three days!"
Ludwig choked on his tea.
"You okay? Oh, you finally showed." Dr Toad directed his attention to Dr Mario walking up.
"I'm here. Alright, catch me up!" He rubbed his gloved hands together eagerly, his genial mask once again in place.
"We'll be a little busy for a few days while we look over all this." Dr Toad pointed at the stack of papers on the table.
"Whoa! But we have the guy right here!" Dr Mario stared at Ludwig. "Just tell us what you did!"
Ludwig dropped his face to the table. "I. Do. Not. Remember! When I made this, first of all I had assistance from my younger brother Iggy. Second, I was under some kind of influence...a trance of sorts. Okay?"
Dr Mario and Dr Toad stared his slumped figure with wide eyes.
"Ah ha! Over reliance on computers is proven to cause memory loss!" Morris butted in from his work station.
Dr Toad turned his way sharply. "Do you have something worthwhile to add, or are you going to go on about how great typewriters, vinyl records and Converse sneakers are?"
The X-naut chuckled. "I'm just saying that it's proven. Sigmund and Topper even agrees!"
Ludwig lifted up in a jolt. "Of course, they are doctors of the mind! Thank you, Morris!" Ludwig immediately made way for the workstation where Dr Shrinkasaurus was currently 'working'.
"So I'm right. Ah ha again!" Morris exclaimed.
"That doesn't prove anything, you idiot… Hey Doctor Mario, where are you going?"
The mustached doctor stopped in his tracks. "I'm helping Ludwig. Lives are at stake here!"
"Heh," Dr Toad laughed dryly. "If you really believed that, you'd patent that 'stuff' of yours!"
The color drained from this Dr Mario's face. "Excuse me?"
Dr Toad narrowed his beady eyes. "I know everything about doctors I choose to deal with.1-up X, right? What's it for, and why does your double need to follow you around?"
"That is..none of your information. The issue here is Mushroom Flu, and suggest you only stick your nose in that. Well, not literally, but whatever…"
Dr Toad watched him carefully as he joined Ludwig across the room.
Junior closed his 3ds which had a blinking red light, and sunk farther into the chair. "I want to go home.."
Peach patted his head. "You will soon.."
Metal Mario snorted at the sight.
Mario lifted his head up and gave him a vexing look. "You want to set down?"
He shrugged. "I can stand…."
"...Is all that true?"
"What."
"Is he an addict?"
"Mario!" Peach gasped.
"Yes... He thinks he isn't, but that's just because I control his medicine bag," Metal Mario answered in a slightly sarcastic way.
Undeterred, Mario continued. "So..how did you two meet?"
"Smash 64 convention. Doc can't keep a secret. I caught him and made him explain and well…"
The analog wall clock chimed as it struck and hour. Special World was located in the highest elevation before one could classify it as "outer space", but it also sat near a dimensional rift, so the entire land kelp a starry night sky perpetually. However it seemed for the convenience of residents not losing the concept of one's internal clock, they had the same time zone as the Mushroom Kingdom. If Mario was home it would be now be late evening.
"Why do you care?" Peach suddenly asked.
Metal Mario uncrossed his arms and stood up straight. "Because...the bone head ain't a bad guy. He has a big heart and I had nothing better to do I guess. He was pretty lonely and could use an assistant too. Yeah, so that's why…"
The fluorescent lights flickered and the ambient sound of electronics droned as everyone retreated into their own thoughts in silence.
Ludwig planted his feet firmly to the ground and closed his eyes. "But I did it. I am swearing, doctor, I am doing what you ask!"
Dr Shrinkasaurus, who sat across Ludwig as his desk, wagged his feathered fingers for the fifteenth time. "You are doing what I say, but not thinking what I say! You mind holds all of the power!"
"I'd be inclined to disagree. If I believe myself a Paratroopa, I will not sprout wings," Ludwig groaned.
"Don't you have any other techniques?" Dr Mario asked, having observed all of the '100% effective brain exercises' fail on Ludwig.
Dr Shrinkasaurus pondered for a while, then he opened a drawer in his oak desk and pulled out a pipe. Ludwig shot daggers and Dr Mario observed patiently as the avian doctor lit the pipe and then leaned back in his large green chair. He crossed one legs over the other and held his hands together, then he pondered more. In a moment his eyelids drifted downward.
"Doctor?!" Ludwig screamed.
His eyes shot open. "That'll be 100 rupees! Oh, where were we? Okay, close your eyes and count backwards from ten!"
Ludwig jumped out of his seat and left his workstation, prompting Dr Mario to tug on his shoulder. "Where are you-"
"To Dr. Topper," Ludwig answered through clenched teeth.
The Hammer bro puzzle specialist and psychologist's work station was a little farther down in the massive lab, near one of the dark tinted windows. As Ludwig and Dr Mario approached, he lifted his eyes from the chess game he was apparently playing with himself.
"Hey, how's that cure going?" Dr Topper offered his hand. Ludwig shook it and sat across from him as Dr Mario awkwardly stood behind.
"Dr Topper, you HAVE to help me," Ludwig plead, "I created this affliction under trance and I need to remember what I did so we can find a cure expeditiously."
"Call me Dr. T. So you think it's a repressed memory sort of deal? What caused the trance? Lack of sleep? Too much TV?"
"No. The trance wasn't a self inflicted one. I believe it was caused by someone with actual mind numbing powers. My household and I were under the influence of it for at least a couple of days, in fact the perpetrator is still doing this as we speak.."
Dr T raised one eyebrow. "Listen, let's play. It helps me think. You can take control of your side."
Ludwig glanced at the chest pieces on his side. "Perfect."
Dr Mario leaned in. "Isn't your side losing?" Ludwig had less white pieces than Dr Topper black.
"No, watch and learn. Anyway, how could I access these repressed memories?"
The hammer brother moved a piece. "I assume Dr. Shrinkasaurus couldn't help?"
Ludwig shook his head as he jumped one of Topper's pieces.
Topper eyed the board carefully, planning his next move and thinking of Ludwig's predicament at the same time. "Okay, you might not like this, but you need to go back."
Ludwig slide his chair back abruptly before Dr Mario stopped him. "Wait, you need to listen!" Dr Mario urged.
Ludwig took a deep breath. "I do not know HOW you all work here, but it has no grounds in reality!"
Topper moved a chess piece."That's just it! Your brain is tired from all of the stress it's been under-"
"I'm inclined to dis-"
"Let me finish. Then there's some pent up anger too, that's not my doctor's opinion, it's just that obvious by looking at you. You need let this anger go, and then the brain exercises can work. Believe me, Sigmund helped me remember where I'd lost my keys in my own shell. Turns out I was too stressed my second divor- never mind. Think about it..."
Dr T and Ludwig went back in forth in the game for a while, making Dr Mario's head spin. "...Fine. I will give the bird one more try," Ludwig said finally.
Dr T smiled. "Great. Don't tell Dr Toad I said this, but I want you to succeed."
"I- me and Dr Mario will remember that...oh and one last thing." Ludwig moved one more piece. "Check mate!"
Dr Toad was coming back from his lunch break from the only diner around, the Wario funded 'Applebies', open 24 hours. He'd changed out of the white doctor attire and into a black button down shirt with a pink jacket along with horn rimmed sunglasses . He let his medium length blonde hair, normally be a hazard in the lab, flow freely from under his red Toad cap. When he casually strolled past Mario, Peach, and Metal Mario (for Junior had slumped over and taken a nap in his seat) with brown takeout bags in hand, they almost didn't recognize him.
Mario jumped up, popping his back in the process. "Ow, I mean, any updates doctor?"
Dr Toad stopped and slid his glasses down slowly like he was a senpai, er celeberty finally noticing a lowly fan..
"Sure. We can get started on the cure in...about three days."
"What?!" gasped Mario and Peach. Metal Mario, who still stood leaning against the wall, turned his head away.
"Doctor, please!" Peach plead.
"What can I say? You think my job is easy? I got fifty pages of code to go through, all because your koopa friend can't remember his own research."
"He can't? But...I don't understand unless...That boo…"
Peach looked at Mario as her heart beat rapidly. "Mario, what do you mean?"
"Remember that fight I told you about on our plane ride here? The one that damaged your roof?"
"You didn't mention the roof part.."
Mario scratched the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, sorry. Anyway, I just knew that boo had something to do with Bowser. If he could possess James, maybe he did something like that to Ludwig. After all, that would explain why he's trying to help us all of a sudden."
"Wait, where are you going with this?" Dr Toad interrupted.
"Let me talk to Ludwig. Peach can stay out here with Junior, but you have to let me do this. We don't have three days."
"Fine, but remember who the experts are!" was Dr Toad's peremptory demand.
Soon Mario was back in the lab. He saw Ludwig at Dr Shrinkasaurus's station, setting rigidly in a chair with his eyes squeezed shut while counting backwards from one thousand. Dr Mario had dragged a stool to set next to Ludwig and leaned depressively on the desk.
"8702, 8701, 8700, darn it! It's not working still!" Ludwig slammed his fist on the desk.
"Guys?"
Ludwig's face dropped to the desk in anguish. "I have failed..."
"Ludwig?!" Mario dashed beside him. "Can someone explain?"
Dr Mario caught him up while Ludwig's head remained on the desk. "So what do ya have, Mario old pal? Sigmund is off on lunch, but if he stayed any longer I think Ludwig here would strangle him anyway."
Mario cupped his hands and spoke near Ludwig's ear. "Listen to me. Your mind is being clouded like James' was, and based on my intuition, it's due to emotion. Whatever emotion allowed you to be taken over, you haven't gotten over it, so the the mental block stays. You have to confront this, you have to!"
Ludwig's eyes jutted open. "That is it... I have been keeping a straight face so to speak, but I am...angry, betrayed, hopeless." He lifted up. "My whole family and way of life is being threatened by that...dark force! -And I'm the cause of it! -We weren't under his control at first, we actually considered the plan- The Mushroom Flu plan. How could I have done that? -We were all too..insecure! Bowser would being spending more time with...you! We would have never considered it otherwise. I admit it! I am just so...disappointed in myself..." Ludwig let out a deep breath.
Mario smiled. "Glad you got that out of you. We all need a freakout sometime, I know I've had enough of mine. Now, you want to try that counting thing again?"
In an instant, Ludwig regained is cold calculating composure. "Don't you worry, Mario. 10, 9, 8,7,6-"
"Close your eyes!" Dr Mario reminded him.
Ludwig closed them in a grimace. "10987654321!" He opened his eyes and blinked a few times with a baffled expression.
"Ludwig?" Mario asked.
Ludwig jumped up and ran over to the original workstation he was at, shoving Dr Toad away from the laptop and making his glasses fly off.
The tumbling Toad picked himself up from the floors. "What's the big id-?"
Ludwig typed furiously on the computer. "-We do not need a new cure completely, the virus that is just reanimated from the antivirus present in Dr Mario's original cure."
"Hmm?" Morris asked from his workstation across.
"Synthetic viruses; I was a idiot. Or maybe that idea was planted in my mind to delay a cure, who knows?" He pulled up the chemical analysis on screen and Dr Toad observed while Morris snuck a few glances. "I created a new strand of course, but that is naturally what viruses do when contained. They mutate to spread again. I am mainly saying this outloud for the benefit of Mario, since us educated ones know such elementary things already."
Mario rolled his eyes.
"-So in conclusion, the main virus was always the same thing. Dr Mario? Get over here! What was your original curing process for the original Mushroom Flu?"
Doctor Mario shuffled over. "Ah, that. I used...my special patented Megavitamins obviously."
Ludwig turned to him with gleaming eyes. "Do that all over again!" He scribbled a formula on a spare sheet of paper and handed it to Dr Mario.
"Wow! That's all? I'll be done with that in five minutes at the most!"
"Let me assist!" Morris butted in again.
"Fine." Dr Mario and Morris left to the capsule creating machine.
Dr Toad gaped. "How?"
"I'm going to tell Peach and the rest. Thank you Ludwig!" Mario sprinted away.
"Now what?" Dr Toad asked icily.
"What, what?" Ludwig replied smirking.
"This new cure. You know we have procedures around here."
"Nice pink jacket."
"Do not change the subject. Y-"
"What hair conditioner do you use?"
"Ludwig, stop. I'm telling you right now that-"
"Done!" Dr Mario yelled. His and Morris's arms were filled with bottles of a newly formulated Megavitamins. "We're ready to roll!" They dumped the bottles on the lab table and coincidentally on top of the now obsolete printed test results.
Ludwig clapped his hands together. "Perfect. We should be going…"
"No you are not!" Dr Toad confronted Ludwig with an air of authority. "That medicine must be put through our rigorous 64 hour testing procedures! What's what we have our test subjects imprisoned here for, after all."
"Old pal, that's not necessary," Dr Mario explained. "This is based off of my old formula, so I know it's safe. Besides, Mario's friends need this asap!"
"No no no no no! And you do really want to defy me, Dr Mario, when I found out this dirt on you during my lunch break?" Dr Toad pulled out a slip from his pocket and Dr Mario jerked it away from him to read it.
"What is this? It says here….Oh my. You can't!" The paper slipped from his shaky hands.
"I can. Your boss, who ever that Master Hand person is, will hear that if you don't play by our rules!"
"I have had enough of this." Ludwig gathered the pill bottles into his satchel and slung it on his shoulders. He took an imperturbable stroll away from the workstation.
"I will not let you!" Dr Toad shouted over his shoulders.
Ludwig turned around. "Yes you will."
"OR WHAT?"
Ludwig dug into an inner pocket with his right hand and pulled out a...Zapper!
"Don't kill me!" Morris shrieked. Dr Toad froze.
"Come on!" Ludwig looked at Dr Mario.
"If you go I'm reporting you!" Dr Toad warned.
"...I don't care. I have to do what's right." Dr Mario ran for the exit. Ludwig slowing backpedaled a bit to ensure Dr Toad didn't follow, then he broke into a full sprint as well.
Dr Mario burst through the doors from the lab, making Mario, Peach, Metal Mario, and a drowsy Bowser Junior direct their attention to him.
He clutched his abdomen. "Run run run!"
Metal Mario grabbed Dr Mario by the shoulders and shook him harshly. "Doc, what happened?!"
Suddenly a piercing alarm went off and the lighting turned from a blueish tinge to red.
Mario covered his ears. "What the heck?!"
Ludwig then burst through with the Zapper weapon still in his hands. "What is the hold up? To the exit!"
Ludwig led the way while Mario, Peach and Junior were right on his heels. Metal Mario was slightly behind as he was carrying Dr Mario bridal style. They zipped through the same hallways as before, now unrecognizable in the red light. Several times along the way, a doctor or scientist exited the doors ahead of them, only to be pushed shoved aside completely. Now they were at the sliding door that stood between them and the exit.
Ludwig stopped and dialed in something on the keypad while breathing rapidly through his nostrils. Each attempt resulted in three beeps and no opening doors.
"Is it not working?" Mario screamed over the noise.
"Obviously!"
Just then, a few doctors sprinted down the hallway towards them. They were all carrying some type of high tech looking tasers.
Metal Mario stepped up and kicked the door a few times, putting several dents into the bottom of it. After five kicks, the metal had deformed enough for someone small to be able to crawl under.
Ludwig turned around and fired several warning shots at the doctors. They either retreated or ducked in one of the side hallways. "Junior, crawl under and input '293778036' into the pad outside. It should be connected to different circuitry!"
Junior's lips quivered. "ME?! But Luddy!"
Mario bent down to Junior's level. "Remember when you helped the Postmaster out earlier? He told me you were so brave then, and you can be now! You're a Koopa Scout, right?"
Junior wiped the tears from his eyes and puffed out his chest. "Uh huh. And 'a Koopa Scout helps anyone out'!" He ducked down to the other side of the door.
Ludwig gave Mario a weird look. "Why are you better at comforting my baby brother than I?"
"HALT RIGHT THERE!" Dr Toad appeared from down the hall with smoke pouring from his nostrils. "I caught you all! We don't kid around at MY research facility and we never release ANYONE!"
The sound of metal scraping metal added to the alarm sounds as the entrance door slid upwards, revealing Junior's smiling face on the other side.
Mario smirked. "You do now. Let's bounce."
They all ran from the Special World Hospital and caught, or rather hijacked (Mario and Peach would excuse it this time) the nearest taxi on the lonely road. Soon all six were heading to the airport and back to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Dr Toad stood paralyzed in the open doorway as alarms and confusion continued in the facility behind him. Dr Topper and Morris stode up.
"That's what you get, Dr. Toad. Someone was bound to escape."
"...I'm glad you've been divorced twice," Dr Toad snapped. He stomp back inside, brushing against Dr Topper on purpose.
"Well he sure is bitter!" Morris quipped.
Dr Topper shrugged. "Life goes on."
"Of course, but I blame the internet for all of this aggressiveness."
Dr Topper pat the X-naut on the back. "For once, you have a point!"
Toadley Clinic
Bowser stepped inside the dreaded and unpopular clinic for the second time in his life. As he stomped on through the lobby, all eyes were on him and for good reason. He wore his crown and dark grey cape with his emblem on it and walked as if he owned the place. He ignored the presence of everyone but Mary the intern who in turn froze with the milk still pouring from the carton into her cereal.
"You work here, right?" Bowser flashed his sharp teeth.
Mary's cereal bowl overflowed and milk dripped from her desk. "B-b-b-b-," she stammered.
"Bowser? What are ya doing here?!" Kylie Koopa asked from the seats she'd made into a bed, complete with pillows and blankets.
"So Toad and Daisy are here, right? Can I see them?" Bowser asked Mary, ignoring her terror.
"B-b-b... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mary jumped over her desk and retreated to Toadley's lab continuing to scream hysterically.
Bowser reached over the desk and grabbed her bowl of cereal to eat it. The koopa didn't like wasting food! Then his eyes darted to a gawking Kylie. She had no makeup on and was wearing pink colored sleepwear and a matching sleeping cap.
"This a slumber party er...Kylie right? Kamek reads your Koopa Kronicle, or was that Play Koopa?...Anyway, the two brats, they're in there right?"
The doors crept open and Luigi, Boo, and Alagold entered all with slouched posture, dragging feet, and half closed eyelids.
"Bowser…" Luigi mumbled. "We told you to...wait up..we're so tired.."
Kylie slapped herself. "Duh! Now I get it. The hero mission is over and Bowser was innocent after all, right?"
"...Right. Toad and..?"
"They're in the lab. Toadley will be there to, he never sleeps but uh. Wow, you peeps have missed a lot! " Kylie gave them a summary of events, but since there was just so much to tell involving what had happened all day and none of them seemed to be following, she truncated it to a few sentences of the main points. "And so, the rest of us either went home for the day or split between here and the hospital. Obviously I chose to stay the night here."
"Thank you." Luigi smiled sheepishly. "The real bad guy is taken care of. Come on, Bowser.."
"Whatever, mustache." Bowser ungraciously kicked the lab doors open, still munching on Mary's cereal.
Mary's and now Sebastian's screams could be heard until Dr. Toadley silenced them.
"Has the Koopa King entered our establishment to cause trouble? Hopefully not because I know kungfu! By the way, Mario is on his way here."
This news revitalized Luigi, Boo, and Alagold like they'd received a Speed Flower.
As if on cue, the doorbell was heard as Mario, Peach, Bowser Junior, Ludwig, Doctor Mario, and Metal Mario rushed in, pouring straight into Toadley's lab.
Ludwig threw the satchel off of his shoulders in front of Dr. Toadley while Mario, Peach, and Luigi's team gathered around Toad and Daisy's compartments, too shocked at their condition to greet each other.
"This is the cure. Get it to them!" Ludwig urged. Toadley nodded and went to his administering station with Dr Mario. Metal Mario stayed near the lab door with his arms crossed and a flat expression. Sebastian and Mary got over their hysteria enough to assist with the medicine and Kylie's eyes were peeking through the window on the doors though she never intruded.
From Toadley's desk, Ludwig stared at Toad and Daisy compartments with sweat forming on his forehead. They were conscious far past the point of 'coma walking'. They were lying on the ground pale and limp, with the occasional twitch of an arm or leg. Strenuous breathing could clearly be seen. Bowser walked up to Ludwig while holding a heavy eyed Junior in his arms.
"Son...we gotta be realistic. Like, if..it doesn't turn out, you tried your best. No one will hold that against you."
"Administering the medicine!" Toadley announced with desperate energy. He opened their cells and dropped the medicine in their mouths (Dr Mario's Megavitamins were designed to work this way even if the sufferer was unconscious). Everyone felt a cold sinking as time stood still. They waited.
And waited.
And waited.
...
Toad and Daisy jolted up and coughed wildly, eyes fluttering in confusion. Everyone minus Toadley stared wordlessly at the miracle unfolding.
"Are the patients showing signs of recovery? Yes they are. I suggest one more day of watchful care."
"By george, it worked.." The words left Dr Mario's mouth faintly. "We have a new cure!" His exclamation galvanized the clinic into action again.
"I'll pull the truck around so we can load up and head to MK East!" Sebastian said, excusing himself with Mary close behind.
Luigi and his group hugged each other joyously and Ludwig stood back, smiling...on the inside at least. Bowser was rocking Junior like a baby but grinned at the results. Dr Mario even went over and hugged Metal Mario, even though this aggravated his shameful injury. Kylie cracked open the door a bit to give everyone a thumbs up.
"My daddy will he okay now! Mario, you truly are a blessing." Peach hugged Mario tightly, embracing his warmth and touch, and held him for a moment. When she finally loosened her grip, Mario slid from her arms and to the ground on his knees.
Tears filled his eyes as he sniffled uncontrollably. "We've...we've finally done it…We saved the day..."
The End? (No it's not.) To be continued.
Author note: Didja know? None of the special world hospital doctors are OCs except for Morris. Some of them are obscure and one of them only appears in a Mario adventure book. Can you spot the references?
Lastly. The fic is nearing the end. Next chapter will wrap it all up. I will possibly finish my chapter overviews/commentary on Tumblr too before uploading that. Check my profile for details.