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Pauline quietly wandered the streets of the Koopa village with caution, being careful to avoid the sights of the deadly troops that roamed the streets almost aimlessly. Hiding behind the corner of a building, she waited as a whole line of Koopa soldiers stomped down the street. As soon as the coast was clear, Pauline started running down the street.

"Hey, over here!" a high-pitched voice called out. Pauline looked around to see where the voice was coming from.

"Did someone yell at me?" Pauline asked.

"Down here!" said the voice. Pauline turned around and found the voice coming from a barred- up basement window of the building she was standing next to. The creature of the voice turned out to be a green yoshi.

"You have to get me out of here!" said the yoshi in a terrified voice. "Please help me!"

"Calm down, I'll get you out." Pauline said, kneeling down to talk to the poor creature. "How did you end up here?"

"Bowser got us shortly before he reeked havoc one the Mushroom Kingdom by kidnapping Peach and Daisy!" said the green yoshi. "They kidnapped me and my comrades from our island!"

"Where are your comrades?" Pauline asked.

"I don't know." said the yoshi tearfully. "They're either somewhere else, or they've been killed!"

"That's terrible!" Pauline replied. "Hold on, I'm going to get you out of there!"

"My name's Yoshi by the way." said the green yoshi. "I am the leader of my island. That's why I have the simple name."

"My name's Pauline." Pauline replied. "I've just escaped Bowser's castle and I'm trying to find a way out of his kingdom and find the Mario Brothers."

"You mean the two heroes that were predicted to save the world?" Yoshi asked.

"Yes." Pauline replied. "How did you know about that?"

"It has been foretold for centuries by the elders of our island." Yoshi replied. "Do you know where they're at now?"

"They're probably still in Sarasaland." Pauline said. "That was where I last saw them."

"Well, hurry and get me out of here!" Yoshi yelled. "I want to help you."

"Thanks, I'm going to need all the help I can get." Pauline said, taking out Kamek's wand. "Now stand back, I'm going to try and blast the bars off this window!"

"Where did you get that?" Yoshi asked.

"I stole it from Kamek." Pauline replied. "Somehow I was able to make him vanish into thin air. I still don't how this wand works exactly, so I'm not guaranteeing any perfect results. However, I think this thing runs off pure thought..."

"Please try!" Yoshi pleaded. "It's important that we get out of here!"

"Alright, here it goes." Pauline said.

Pauline started waving the wand, hoping that there was still a little magic charge in it. She kept thinking to herself break the bars, break the bars, break the bars. She hoped that her provoking thoughts would could the wand to do what she wanted. Finally, Pauline waved the wand and magic shot straight at the bars. To her surprise, the bars exploded upon contact with the bars and the window was open to the outside world.

"It worked!" Yoshi shouted in delight. "You did it, Pauline!"

"I did. Didn't I?" Pauline asked. "I'm actually surprised that it worked!"

"You're not the only one!" Yoshi replied. "Can you pull me out of this building? The sooner the better!"

"Yes." Pauline said. "Here, grab my hands and I'll pull you out!"

Yoshi grabbed Pauline's hands and started climbing up the stony wall inside the basement he was trapped in. With the last bit of strength she had, Pauline attempted to pull Yoshi out of the dreaded prison. Finally, Yoshi was able to emerge form the window and step outside for the first time since his capture.

"Thank you so much!" Yoshi said happily. "I thought I was trapped for good! How can I ever repay you?"

"No need to do anything." Pauline replied. "Although, do you think you can take me away from Bowser's kingdom and help me find the Mario Brothers?"

"Well, since you busted me out of Bowser's prison I don't see why not!" Yoshi replied. "We can work together as a team!"

"Oh, thank you so much!" Pauline said.

"You're welcome." Yoshi said. "Hurry and hop on my back before any Koopa Troops come this way!"

Wasting no time, Pauline climbed onto Yoshi's back and the two of them charged down the street and made their way out of the village.


Back at Bowser's Castle, Ludwig von Koopa was wandering aimlessly around his room wondering where Kamek was. He had not seen him since he arrived back at the castle many hours ago and was beginning to wonder about his whereabouts. The guard soldiers had ordered him to stay in his room while the kingdom remained on alert for the mysterious woman that managed to escape. His younger sister, Wendy O' Koopa was sitting on his bed starring up at the stony ceiling while playing with of her dolls. Being the fourth youngest of the eight Koopalings at age six, she is considered by her siblings as a spoiled brat with a quick temper, often going into a rage over little things. She is the only Koopaling other than Roy Koopa that was born without hair. Despite this, she is able to look beautiful with a large pink bow on top of her head.

"I'm bored." Wendy said. "When will the beepers go off?"

"I've already told you this a million times," Ludwig said, "they'll turn off the alarms when that woman gets captured again! Dad wants to be sure that she doesn't get away!"

"But why?" Wendy asked.

Ludwig became frustrated. "Dad is after two men that want to take him out of power! He calls them the Mario Brothers! He's afraid that that woman will help them beat us."

"Why do they want daddy to step down so bad?" Wendy asked.

"Beats me lil' sis." Ludwig said. "If I knew I'd tell you."

Suddenly, the alarms in the foyer turned off and the two Koopalings immediately stood up.

"Did they find her?" Wendy asked.

Suddenly, there was a banging sound at the bedroom door and the other Koopalings, other than Bowser Jr., stepped inside.

"She got away!" shouted Lemmy Koopa, the second oldest Koopaling. Although he is nine years old (just a year younger than Ludwig), Lemmy retains a childlike innocence and immaturity about him that is easily shown at times by his love of balancing on his rubber ball. Unlike the other Koopalings that have hair, Lemmy's hair is bright and rainbow-colored versus being just one color.

"What?" Ludwig said. "That can't be."

"But its true." said Roy Koopa, the third oldest Koopa (eight years old). "She was able to get away clean on the back of a yoshi!"

Roy is often described by the other Koopalings as a typical bully who likes beating up others for his own amusement. The main feature that makes him stand out is the pink pair sunglasses he wears. Larry Koopa, the second youngest (at four years old), was standing behind him. He has sky-blue hair and is often very bad-tempered and has a hard time getting along with the other Koopalings. When playing board games, he often cheats and tries to win by any means, legitimate or otherwise. But now, the only feeling that he was expressing was fear.

"Daddy's gonna be really mad when he finds out!" Larry said. "I'm scared."

"Hopefully he doesn't take it out on us!" Ludwig said. "If he does, then I'll just hide in here."

"Who knows what will happen." said Iggy Koopa, the middle child of the family (seven years old). "I just hope he doesn't breathe fire on us again."

Being hyperactive, demented, and unpredictable, Iggy's outstanding characteristics are his glasses, his crazy green hair, and his height, which makes him the tallest, thinnest and fastest of the Koopalings. Morton Koopa Jr. stood next to him. Being the third youngest of the Koopalings at fives years old, he seems to possess a cantankerous personality, which means that the other Koopalings find it hard to deal with him. He is also the only Koopaling to have a brown skin tone rather than the yellow tone of the others, the result of two recessive genes passed down from both Bowser and Clawdia.

"What are we going to do, big brother?" Morton asked Ludwig.

"I guess we just sit up here and wait for dad to get back, wherever he is." he replied. "Have any of you seen Kamek?"

"Nope." Iggy replied. "He's been gone since this morning."

"I thought I heard him get back here early this morning while everyone else was still asleep." Ludwig said. "Is Junior still in his crib?"

"The guards are taking care of him right now." Lemmy said. "I think they're feeding him right now."

As the Koopalings exited the bedroom, Ludwig could not help but think of how his father will react to the news of the escaped prisoner. Of all the possible scenarios that he could think of, none of them were good at all. He could only hope and pray that his father would not place the blame on him and the other Koopalings for what happened.


And now...the moment Yoshi-lovers have been waiting for...Yoshi makes his first appearance in the story! Pauline has just rescued him from the basement of a prison building and they are both now galloping their way out of the Darklands to a safer place. Yoshi will ultimately have a larger role as the story progresses, but in the mean time he and Pauline are trying to locate the Mario Brothers.

Meanwhile, back in Bowser's castle, the Koopalings are restless after hearing the news that Pauline had escaped. Now all of them, especially Ludwig, are nervous about how their dad will react to the news. My main reason for including this part was to introduce the other Koopalings that haven't already been introduced in the story and also to catch up on their activity. And for those of you wondering about the princesses, they are still fast asleep from Kamek's magic spell, but don't worry! They'll wake up eventually. :)

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