Ok, everybody…I'm short on words today, but I hope this chapter turns out as good as it can possibly get!

There's a bunch of stuff going on, but I'm sure all of you can keep up with it, no prob.

Now, my thanks to all who have reviewed! I really appreciate them!

Let's-a go!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Alright, keep your eyes open for mud holes." Bowser warned. "This place is downright dangerous. It's a wonder Peach hasn't done anything with it yet."

"She keeps saying it's good for defense purposes." Luigi said.

"She says that all the time." Yoshi grinned back at the other smashers.

"Peach is probably too lazy to do anything about it, or maybe she's busy, I don't know." Bowser said. "Oh, yeah. Before I forget, there's leeches here too."

"PICHU!?!?!?!?!??!" Pichu screamed, then stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Yeah, disgusting." Paul said, making a face.

"I don't believe I've had problems with leeches before." Link said.

"That's kinda surprising." Fox said. "I thought this was a saltwater marsh!"

"Nope." Bowser said, knocking a small tree out of the way with a brutal punch. "True, we are rather close to the ocean, but not close enough to scare the leeches away."

"That sucks." Ness said. "Heh heh, 'sucks', get it?"

"Why…here's a little leech right now." Matt said. He stuck his metal arm in the mud and grabbed a thick, slimy slug, and shoved it in Ness' face.

"YEAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!" Ness screamed. He leapt into the air and grabbed a branch. "I'll follow you guys…No WAY am I touching the ground again until we're outta here!"

"Poyo!" Kirby agreed. He floated up like a pink balloon, then let his breath escape with a whoosh and landed next to Ness with a poink noise.

"Just be careful up there." Luigi said. "Leeches have been known to hang in trees, too."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Ness and Kirby leapt out of the tree and landed on Bowser's back, knocking him flat in the ankle deep mud.

"Can we ride on your back?" Ness asked sheepishly.

"….Why me?" Bowser moaned.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes later, Bowser stuck his arms out to the sides, and blocked everybody's way.

"We need to stop for a second." Bowser said.

"How come?" Matt asked. "I don't see anything-"

Bowser shushed him, and pointed up in a tree.

"Huh? I don't-" Matt started saying, but Fox shushed him again.

"Look." Fox said, directing his eyes. By now, everybody was looking at the camera hidden in the tree.

"Just noticed it." Bowser said. "If there's a camera in here this deep, we might have already triggered the alert. We'll have to be extra careful, by while we're here…"

"It'd be my pleasure." Fox said.

BLAM!

The camera crashed to the ground, cut clean off its robotic arm. Fox blew on the end of his blaster, then spun it around on his finger and popped it back in its holder.

"Nice shot." Bowser whistled.

"Thanks." Fox said.

"Everybody, keep an eye out for more security stuff." Link said. "We'll have to be careful now."

"Poyo."

"I doubt they'd feed you if we get caught…" Paul said skeptically.

"POYO!" Kirby whined. He crossed his arms, and made an unhappy face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Officer!" A soldier cried.

"Yes, soldier?"

"We lost the signal from camera alpha in quadrant four." the soldier informed.

"Did you see the cause?"

"No, sir. One moment, it was fine, then it went black."

"…Alright, I'm sending an inspection squad out to find the cause." The officer said. "Good work, soldier."

"Sir!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers were walking through the woods, when they finally came across a path. It was the type of path made by jeeps and trucks.

"…The tracks are sort of new." Bowser said. "They have to be at most a week old."

"What are these, then?" Matt asked. He was pointing at small foot prints the size of a silver dollar.

"I don't remember seeing those before." Bowser said, surprised.

"Let me see them." Yoshi said. Everybody stepped aside as he walked up, then he put his big nose down to the ground, and took a hearty sniff. He sniffed it a few more times, then pulled his nose back, and made an unhappy snorting noise.

"What?" Fox asked.

"I think they're bunny prints, but they're really smelly. They're also weird shaped." Yoshi gagged.

"The mud around here can smell like crap sometimes, if that's what you think it smells like." Bowser said.

"How do you know so much about this marsh?" Matt asked.

"Any Ex-conqueror could tell you what contributed to failure." Bowser sighed.

"You had lots of trouble with this marsh, didn't you" Link asked.

"I'll never forget it." Bowser said.

"Pi." Pichu said suddenly, her ears stiffening.

"Poyo." Kirby said.

"What is it, Pichu?" Ness wondered.

"Pi!"

"She says she hears a truck." Luigi said.

"And I see it, too!" Bowser said. "Get off the road!" He threw anybody near him into the woods off the side of the road, then ran off after them and everybody else followed.

Just in time.

A truck rumbled on down the road, and a few bored soldiers were singing inside the truck. The back was loaded with jackhammers, shovels, a few cases of dynamite, and a few small drills. The rest of the back of the truck was covered with a camouflaged tarp.

"…Hey, look." Luigi said.

He pointed at the ground, where there were more footprints.

"They went the direction we just came from." Yoshi said. "…Are those drag marks?"

"Hey, that looks like Mario's b-"

Everybody went silent, and stared at the small clearing. In the middle, there were two slight imprints of Mario's body in the soil. One looked like he was on his side, the other was of him flat on his back. Near where his head left a dent, was a mark.

"Is that…" Ness started saying.

"Blood?" Bowser wondered.

Luigi looked at the dent on the ground, and the dark brown dirt. In an instant, Luigi swayed, and hit the ground with a thud. Everybody looked at him, before they noticed he was unconscious.

"Ok, we'll rest here for a bit." Bowser suddenly decided. "We may as well take a break."

"What do we do after we rest?" Fox said. "We could cause some trouble at the camp, or try to locate Mario first."

"Mario's more important. I'd say we go after him first." Paul said. "That way, we can find out if GUN captured him after all."

"I agree." Fox said. "I think Mario's life is more important."

"Alright, it's decided." Link said. "We'll get Mario first, then have our fun."

Everybody shared their agreement, then lay down to take a quick nap. Link and Bowser stayed up to watch.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When it was about an hour later, Luigi finally woke up.

"Ugh…what happened?" Luigi asked. "All I remember is seeing Mario's blood, then everything went black."

"You fainted." Bowser said. He and Link were playing tic-tack-toe, and the hylian was losing badly. He was nearly oblivious, though, and happily scratched x's into the dirt, which Bowser countered with o's.

"I bet that enhanced my image." Luigi grimaced. "D'you think Mario will be ok?"

"I think he was knocked out." Bowser said. "Which would explain the dragging. I don't think he was killed, just knocked out a little brutally."

"Thank goodness!"

"Still, that doesn't mean he's safe." Link said. "Think it's time to go?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." Bowser said. He stuck two of his fingers in his mouth, and whistled.

Everybody shot up, wakened by the sharp whistle.

"Pi…" Pichu whined, massaging her ears.

"Sorry." Bowser said. "I didn't mean to hurt your ears."

"…Yawn…Is it time to continue looking for Mario?" Paul asked sleepily.

"Yeah." Link said. "Wakey wakey, sleepy heads!"

"I'm hungry." Yoshi said.

"POYO!"

"Now that I think about it, we have the two most renowned gluttons in the universe with us. Of COURSE they're gonna be hungry!" Matt said.

"Tell ya what." Luigi said. "If we find any food at the base when we go, you two can have it."

"GOYO!?!?!?"

"Really!?!?!?"

"We don't have any need for it." Bowser said. "It's time to go now."

With that, he gave a great heave and pushed himself up, and walked across the road along the tracks with everybody else following like before.

They crossed the road without any trucks appearing, and stepped off on the other side of the road into the woods. They were wilder than the woods they had walked through so far, so the going was hard.

Bowser flexed his special gloves that E. Gadd and Tails made for him a few months ago, and thin, silvery claw shot out.

"I'm glad these babies are made from adamantium." Bowser said. "I've never had to sharpen them even once since I got them."

He slashed away at the low hanging branches and the nettles and tall grass, and his blades were so sharp it was just like swinging through air for one so strong. Their pace picked up for a while, but they started to slow when the ground got gooey.

"Anybody for climbing in the trees?" Yoshi asked. "The bunnies went up."

"Naw, we can keep-"

"Bowser! Watch out!" Ness yelled.

Bowser took one more step, and promptly sank into the mud.

"Oh, CRUD!" Bowser roared.

"Poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo…" Kirby moaned, running in circles and holding his head with his stubby arms.

"Hold still, while I find something!" Fox said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

"Link, lend Luigi your Clawshot." Matt said.

"Ok…Why?" Link asked curiously as he tossed the gadget to Luigi.

"Bowser, grab the Claw, and fly as fast as you can, Luigi." Matt instructed. "Everybody else, grab Bowser!"

"WHAT!?!? You're going to make me sink!" Bowser protested.

Luigi passed Bowser the chain, and moments before he took off, everybody else jumped on Bowser who quickly sank into the mud.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Luigi's feet nearly exploded with thrusting power, and he shot forwards faster than a nuclear warhead. Bowser's body came out of the mud with a slurp, and he skied on the thick water with everybody else on his shoulders and back.

"Now I see what you're getting at." Bowser said. He couldn't help but crack a grin.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Link yelled.

"The trees are starting to thin out." Paul observed.

They quickly shot out of the submerged woods, and out into open water. It was a lake, and the swamp trees were at the lake's shallow shores. They hurtled across the water while getting washed by the cold spray. Luigi zipped about aimlessly for a little bit, then flew straight up and weakened the jets so they just hovered there.

"PiCHU!" Pichu squealed.

"Huh?" Everybody asked.

"Pi!" She pointed at a speck in the sky, which moved slightly. It was still very far away.

"Spaceship?" Ness asked. The little mouse pokemon nodded her head. Everybody looked back at the speck as it started growing in size. It was orange, and looked faintly familiar…

There was a roar as it shot overhead about a few hundred feet, and it disappeared over the edge of the forest. Luigi was still skimming the water, but he started accelerating towards the ship.

"I'll be danged." Fox said. "That was Samus' ship! What's she doing here?"

"I want to find out." Luigi said. "But Mario's our priority. Yoshi, can you still smell him?"

"Yeah." Yoshi said. "Luckily, he's in the same direction Samus is going!"

"Maybe we can finally kill two birds with one stone!" Link said.

They skied across the lake, and when they reached the other side, they kept going until they could step on ground that would hold them up. Next, Yoshi picked up the pungent smell of the bunnies and Mario, and followed it.

It wasn't until an hour or two later that they found anything.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uh oh…" Yoshi said, at length.

"What?" Bowser asked.

"I lost Mario's scent!"

"What! How?" Bowser asked, surprised.

"I don't know." Yoshi said, sounding perplexed. "I had him, then somehow his scent just vanished…"

"Can you keep following the bunnies, then?" Link asked.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Yoshi said. He followed the scent trail, which plowed on through the thick untamed woods. Everybody had to walk stooped over to avoid taking their head off on branches. Bowser walked behind Yoshi, slashing at the undergrowth and clearing a wide enough path for everyone else. They continued doing this for a few minutes, when Yoshi stiffened, and smelled the ground carefully. He stopped, and sniffed it again, as if just to make sure.

"What is it now?" Fox asked.

"Um…I THINK I smell Mario…but…"

"But what?"

"He smells weird." Yoshi said. He stared off to the side for a little bit, as if thinking, then shrugged it off and continued. The woods were quiet now, and it was already getting pretty dark.

After awhile, they heard chanting, very faint on the late air.

"Follow it." Bowser said. This time, Pichu sat on his shoulder, and everybody quietly made their way through the woods while Pichu guided them with her superior hearing. Bowser cut away silently at any obstructions, and before long they found a clearing.

In concentric circles, rows and rows of strange looking rabbits danced in a circle around a center stone that rose into the air like a castle's tower. They all chanted, saying 'Dah" in various pitches. It sounded sinister.

"I never thought I'd be scared of a rabbit." Bowser shuddered.

"What's with the music?" Ness asked.

"It sounds like Voodoo to me." Matt said.

"Voodoo!?!?"

"SHH!!!"

"Yeah, I'm curious as to why there are Rabbids in this swamp." He said, quietly.

"Rabbids?" Fox asked.

"Yes, evil freaky bunnies." Matt said. "That's all you need to know. It sucks that Mario got captured by them."

"Let me guess, they're doing something to him?" Paul said.

"Exactly, what though, we'll have to find out." Matt said. "We have to be careful."

"Heh, what could a Rabbid do to me?" Bowser snorted in annoyance.

"Lots of stuff you're better off not knowing." Matt grimaced.

"Ohh…Noooo…" Luigi moaned, frightened and scared for Mario and himself.

"We gotta be quick." Matt said. Just then, there was a loud chorus of "DAH!"

The moon was way above the stone tower already, and it shone down, casting sinister shadows where its pale light could not reach. A rabbid with a lazy eye stood on top of the tower. He seemed to be the leader.

"DAH!" He yelled.

"DAH!" the rest of the rabbids yelled.

"DAH dah dah DAH!'

"dah DAH DAH dah!"

"Bah DA DA DA DAAAAAAAH!!!"

"DAH DAH!"

They repeated the noises a few times, and then two bunnies armed with bows hustled a figure into view.

It was Mario.

It happened swiftly. The lead Rabbid pulled out a staff, and hit Mario with it. Mario sagged under the blow, and the staff, which was up against his chest, started glowing with a pale green glow. Mario yelled and kicked away from the staff, but the rabbids pushed him back up against it.

Mario's body started glowing like the staff, and then the moon seemed to give off a glow of energy as well. Sparks of energy flew off Mario's body, then he started shrinking, and turning rounder. His clothes still matched his body, and they shrank along with him, keeping their nice fit on him.

His boots came off with a pop. When he shrank to about the size of the rabbid holding the staff, he stopped shrinking. Two long, rounded strips of flesh shot up from his head, and in another flash, it was all over.

In his place was standing a rabbid, wearing Mario's clothing. His eyes stayed bright blue, and a moustache still hung from his upper lip. He looked like a Mario-rabbid.

"DAH!" The rabbids cheered.

"Mamma mia!" Mario said.

"…Dah!" The leader yelled.

Mario shrugged helplessly. "Mamma mia!"

"DAH DAH DAAAAAAH!"

"Mamma mia!"

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" The leader screamed. Something went wrong, but what, nobody could tell. The rabbid swung his staff, which turned out to actually be a plunger. He smashed Mario upside the head, and the poor plumber bunny skidded to the edge of the tower. The rabbid leader advance to knock him off to his death, but then Yoshi decided he couldn't take itr any longer.

"HY-YAAAAH!!!" Yoshi cried. He had been holding a fire egg ready, and at that moment, he let it loose.

It soared into the air in a magnificent arc, and zoomed right in at the leader rabbid.

"DAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"

BAM!

The egg hit his face and exploded, making a sound like a huge balloon popping. He skidded backwards, singed black. He jumped up onto his feet and screamed in rage, and jabbed his plunger at the smashers, whose presence was now known.

"DA DA DAAAAAH!" He screamed.

"Let's go!" Paul yelled. He jumped right into the seething mass of freaky bunnies, and created a tornado. Everybody else jumped into the fray, and bunnies flew everywhere.

The heroes hit, not to kill, but to give the freaky bunnies something to remember. Bowser spun into battle inside his shell, sending bunnies flying into the air. Some of them were caught in the middle of the twister, which Paul was floating in the middle of. He guided the twister around, catching bunnies that flew around.

Pichu used her quick attack and jumped from Rabbid to rabbid, tackling them at high speed only to ram into another rabbid or two within the same second. Kirby inhaled the bunny Pichu just kicked into the air, and spit it out at the rabbid leader, who just got up. he got knocked off the tower, screaming like a girl while his eyes twitched wildly. His plunger flew through the air.

Kirby jumped towards the rabbid and inhaled the plunger to get the…

Plunger ability!?!?!?

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Rabbids screamed. Kirby threw plungers with deadly accuracy, and the rabbids hit had plungers sticking on their heads. They screamed in terror and ran about in a panic, which resulted in more panic.

"POYO!" Kirby yelled. He tossed another plunger and it hit the rabbid leader on the head and stuck like a suction cup. The rabbid screamed like a girl again, and tugged and tugged at the relentless plunger. It clung to his head like a stubborn leech. After awhile, he gave up and ran off into the forest, screaming.

Luigi and Fox teamed up, and linked arms like a chain link.

"Double Jet!" They cried. Luigi and Fox both used their jet boots and Fire Fox and the staff jump respectively, and shot around like a super powerful cruise missile. They barreled through the thickest swarms of rabbids, sending them flying everywhere as they hit them.

Then they plunged into another mob of bunnies and turned sideways, back to back. Luigi's head was against Fox's back, and Fox's head was against Luigi's back. They spun like a pinwheel, kicking off rabbids that got close.

They continued spinning around like a gigantic flaming U.F.O, then they shot into the air and resumed their missile pose. They zoomed around super fast while shooting down balls of thunder and fire and ice, like a rainstorm of heck. Bunnies screamed as they were either burned hairless, shocked senseless, or frozen solid.

Fox and Luigi then assumed a position between the pinwheel and the missile, and shot way into the air while spinning at high speed. A crackling thundercloud seemed to gather around them, then they shot towards the ground at super fast speed, spinning and bringing down a huge crackling column of storm cloud that expanded into a fully fledged tornado.

They slammed into the ground with incredible force, creating a shockwave that blasted outwards and sent many rabbids flying into the sky, screaming at such a high pitch Yoshi screamed and slapped his hands over his ears. The thundercloud faded and the immature tornado vanished, leaving behind a windswept battle area.

Terrified rabbids lay on the ground, breathing heavily and looking at the smashers with eyes wide as saucers. The smashers moved forwards, but the bunnies didn't make any moves. Instead, they quieted down and froze.

Luigi then jumped up to the top of the pillar, and beheld his bunny brother.

"…Mario." Luigi said. His eyes were watery. "…What did they DO to you?"

"Mamma mia." Mario shrugged, throwing his stubby arms up in the air in confusion. He was still Mario, only he was deprived of his normal form, and the ability to speak sensibly.

"C'mon, let's get ya home." Luigi said.

"Mamma mia!" Mario protested, pointing in the direction where the GUN base was.

"You still want to go?" Luigi said.

Mario nodded, and said: "Mamma mia!"

"Ok, everybody!" Luigi said. "We're still going to go to the GUN base."

"Fine with me." Bowser said. "I'll kick their butts, like it was THEM that did this to Mario!"

"Poyo." Kirby said.

"Mamma mia." Mario said, pointing at Kirby.

"Poyo?"

"Mamma mia!"

"Ohyo!" Kirby said, finally understanding. He tossed the plunger he was holding to Mario, who brandished it like a sword. He seemed to be good to go, holding a familiar tool.

"Mamma MIA!" Mario said, pointing back at the base.

"Alright, then." Luigi said. "We'll go kick GUN out of this swamp, then we'll see to getting you back to normal.

The plumber bunny nodded, then pointed at his feet and Luigi's feet.

"You want the jet boots back?" Luigi asked.

Mario shook his head, pointed back at Luigi's feet, then made an L shape out of his fingers.

"You want MY shoes?"

Mario nodded.

"Ok…" Luigi said, unsure. He grabbed his boots and handed them to Mario, who popped them on. They fit him ok…

"Time to go?" Luigi asked his brother.

"Mamma mia."

"Ok, let's go." Luigi said. He grabbed Mario and hopped down.

"Dang, you're even shorter than before." Bowser observed. He was rewarded with a loud snap as Mario slapped his foot with the plunger.

"YEOW!"

The rest of the smashers started walking back towards the base, and Bowser, hopping on one foot while yelling angrily, pursued.

In the shade, the rabbids watched anxiously.

What were they going to do, now?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I wasn't sure how to end this chapter, so I did it the way I did.

I have nothing to say, other than I would like to know what you think!

I'll leave you with this: What happens next? Where's Samus? How are they going to help Mario return to normal? Will GUN finally get kicked good?

Is Mario good at battling with a plunger!?!?!?

YOU, my friends, get to find out sometime in the near future. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

With that said, Adieu, and Review!

-Shining Riku-