1 hour earlier…
The Ranger landed feet first into what appeared to be the outskirts of a secret Koopa base situated below the sky arena, where Mario and Luigi had landed previously. The sky around the secret Koopa base had the same sky as the arena above, so it was still vastly dark around. "So much for a pleasant day…" He thought as he observed the area around the Koopa base. It was a tightly compacted base that was about the size of a small castle. The base's buildings looked gray and unappealing, the style to match the dark and dreary image that the Koopa Empire presented. That were also spotlights that covered the base, allowing the Koopa inside the base to be able to see anything that presented itself as an intruder. "So much for sneaking up then…" The Ranger carefully infiltrated the base by climbing up one of the walls of the base. When he got up the tallest point, he directed himself to the unseen edges of the base, to avoid himself being spotted by the enemy. However, the Ranger had to be careful as one small mistake could cost him to fall to the vast abyss below, which predicted certain death for those who did. However, the Ranger was a born climber, having been on several missions like this before.
As soon as he got up to the edge of the unseen wall, he climbed up; taking note that right now no one could detect his presence. He then snuck around until he saw a group of Koopa just standing around in an area, making small talk with one another. "Another day in the life boys huh?" One of the Koopas said, his arm leaning on one of the walls of the base, with a tone of cockiness in his voice.
"Seems like an eternity with all the crap we've ended up doing ever since we dragged the princesses up here." One of the other troops replied, his arms crossed, frustrated that he was stuck doing this assignment instead of patrolling back in Toadstool Castle. "Do we even know if the Mario Brothers made it up this far?"
"No, but I guarantee you tha-"The first Koopa said before being interrupted by his voice communicator vibrating in his pocket, indicating that he received a message. "Hold on let me take this." The Koopa then turned on his voice communicator, ready to communicate with whoever was on the other line. "Yeah talk to me."
"I have them now. I can sense their presence. Tell your troops to keep a lookout for any 'hidden surprises'." The Koopa's face turned into a smile, like he was finally ready to commit the revenge he so desperately wanted to happen.
"YESSIR!" The Koopa replied in an enthusiastic tone as he shut off his communicator. "Looks like the boss has the Mario Brothers in his grasp." The Koopas chuckled happily as this statement, as The Ranger had a worried expression on his face.
"Crap," he thought as he quickly drew out his bow. "I've got to reach them quickly." He then looked at the group of Koopas, knowing there would be more opposition ahead once he took them down. "Looks like I'll have to get through this entire base in order to reach them."
Meanwhile, the other Koopas were discussing their victory plans once the Mario Brothers were eliminated through Bowser's doing. "Man, I'm just glad we'll be able to get off this forsaken world and get back to doing what we do best: take over such pitiful kingdoms such as this."
"Amen man," another Koopa replied as he gave the troop who said that a fist bump. "How about that Sarasaland place too? You do realize Bowser has the princess from that kingdom too under his possession."
"Two kingdoms and two dead plumbers. Sounds golden to me." Another Koopa chimed in.
"OH YEAH!" All the Koopas yelled, celebrating what appeared to be an impending victory. All of a sudden, their celebrating was cut short when they saw an arrow approaching them, ending one of the Koopa's life. The leader of the group examined the body of the Koopa, revealing the worst to them: he was in fact dead.
"Fuck me," the leader thought as he stepped back to the group. "He's dead." The leader, growing angry at his dead comrade, looked all over the base, trying to find the hidden assailant who committed the crime. "ALRIGHT WHERE ARE YOU?!" The angry Koopa demanded, wanting to find the person responsible.
"Right here you sack of shi-" The Ranger replied as he drew another arrow, and hit one of the other troops in the skull, instantly killing him. The other troops took notice and they spotted The Ranger.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." The leader replied drawing his sword out to attack him. "I suppose you think you can get through all of us but you are sadly mistaken. You're no meddling plumber." The other troops laughed along at this statement as they grabbed their sword, and proceeded to close up on the Ranger.
"No, but I'm a much deadlier weapon than you can possible imagine right now." The Ranger said in a harsh tone before drawing out his falchion and charged at the impending congregate that was closing in on him. The Koopa troops tried to slash him down with their swords, but The Ranger was able to dodge them easily. The Ranger then replied with a counterattack, taking two of them down with a single swoop before rolling over to this left, going more towards the direction opposite of the nearest walls of the base. The Koopas came at him again, before The Ranger picked them apart with arrows, firing at all of them in a single rapid fire succession. Because there were about three of them left from the circle, including the leader, they all were slain pretty easily, allowing The Ranger to rest easily for a while.
However, what The Ranger failed to notice was the trail of security cameras that caught The Ranger's devastating blows to the small group of Koopas taken down previously. This caused an alarm to go off, alerting all troops in the base to his presence. The alarm wasn't loud enough to warn anyone in the sky arena, so at least he could get there without any notice. "Just my luck to have that stupid alarm pulled." The Ranger thought, chastising himself for allowing that to happen. Then The Ranger had an idea: if the spotlights were taken out, then there would be no way for the Koopa troops to see The Ranger at all. "It could also have some 'unintended' consequences." The Ranger smiled deviously at this thought as he took out his electric arrows and started firing at all of the spotlights. Within a few minutes, after a lot of sparks of flying in each and every direction, the spotlights were disabled, rendering themselves useless. The chain reaction also caused chained lightning to fly around the base, rendering traps for The Ranger to benefit from as some of the Koopa were taken out from the voltage shocks. However, there was a good chunk of them left, meaning The Ranger would have to take them down the old fashioned way. "This is going to be fun." The Ranger murmured as he prepared to make his move, knowing that his presence could still be unnoticed.
"WHERE IS HE!" One of the Koopa troops yelled, audible enough so that people within the base could hear. "I mean how does ONE person get out of here unnoticed when we've got a small army packed into this shi-hole."
"I don't see you knowing where he is." Another guard replied, unable to see a few feet in from of him and beyond due to the spotlights being taken down.
"Wherever he is, we've got to find him befor-" Another troop said before being shot down with an arrow, indicating that The Ranger started his next series of attacks.
"Find him quick befor-" Another guard said before being taken down with another arrow. The guards felt the sickening thud of the dead troop, terrified that they could be next. Their fears were then met with a harsh reality: an arrow right at the skull. Everyone was taken down until one guard was left standing.
"Sh-Sh-Show yourself c-cow-coward." The last troop replied in a terrified voice, not wanting to meet the grisly end of his comrades. The Ranger dropped down into the base until he was right behind the last Koopa troop. He then drew his falchion out, ready to strike him. He then tapped his shoulder in order to get him spinning around towards his direction. The troop widened his eyes in fear as he turned around to meet the eyes of The Ranger.
"Surprise…" The Ranger said before striking the Koopa down.
"AHHHHHH-" The Koopa troop ended up screaming before being decapitated by the falchion's strike, eliminating the last part of the threat that the secret base had, giving The Ranger freedom to go to the sky arena. The Ranger looked up at the sky just in time to see it glow into the horrifying colors that the Mario Brothers, princesses and Bowser saw as well back at the sky arena.
"Shit, I got to get there now." The Ranger thought, making his way to the accessible pathway to the arena. He then stopped dead in his tracks when something caught his eye at the top of one of the buildings. The figure looked down at The Ranger, smiling that he was able to display the furious combat skills that he did.
"Still the same, cunning yet dangerous," The figure thought as he jumped down to the building into the abyssal gap below. He then got into what appeared to be a medium sized flying car, big enough for two passengers, riding it over towards what appeared to be the clouds below as if awaiting for someone to meet it there.
While he did that, The Ranger having seen the figure for a little over a second wiped his eyes thinking he was just seeing things and saw that nothing was at the top of the building anymore. "Maybe I'm just seeing things…" The Ranger thought as he made his way to the pathway. He saw what appeared to be a small set of stairs that would take him the rest of the way. "I hope I'm not too late to stop them." While he was ascending the stairs, he could faintly hear the voice of his master apparently talking to someone.
"This is REAL CUTE. The MARIO BROTHERS FINDING LOVE AT THEIR LAST MOMENTS! TOO BAD IT WILL BE THE END FOR YOU! BUT I'LL GIVE YOU A LAST SHOT AT ME!"
"No, I've got to hurry." The Ranger murmured as he vastly climbed the stairs, knowing he had minutes, maybe even seconds to save the Mario Brothers from a grisly fate by Bowser. While climbing the stairs, he could still hear his master talk, horrifying him with various images in his mind of bowser killing the Mario Brothers.
""Go ahead, one little shot, I promise I won't let you miss." After a few seconds, reaching the last steps of the stairway, The Ranger heard his ex-master scream in pain. When he reached the sky arena, still completely undetected, he found Bowser disseminating upon the Mario Brothers who looked like they were in a weakened state.
"THAT'S IT I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BOTH OF YOU! IT'S TIME TO END THIS BOUT ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Bowser then began to charge up a powerful flame attack, not thinking to turn on the Grand Star back on.
"No…" The Ranger thought as he ferociously charged at Bowser, falchion in hand. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He said, as Bowser's attention shifted to The Ranger, canceling the fire attack he had planned for the Mario Brothers.
"Who just said tha-" Bowser said before being interrupted by a strong kick to his face, sending him flying backwards a few feet before falling to the ground. Bowser rose up in fury, startled by the presence of The Ranger below him. "You…I thought you were."
"Dead, not when justice has to be carried out. Justice that starts with the end of you." The Ranger then took out his falchion, preparing for a fight. "And justice can't come any sooner you bastard." The ranger thought, ready to face his ex-master in a duel to the death.