16B - Bowser's Aerial Castle

It's now 7:30 PM; about ten minutes after Mario, Luigi, and Spike took off in the Star Road's Star Cruiser bound for Bowser and Peach's castles. The ship neared the angry gargoyle, whose mouth was open enough to allow access to the docking station inside. Both Mario and Luigi became creeped out at the sight of the gargoyle, especially while the ship entered the mouth.

"I almost thought we were gonna get eaten," Mario remarked, having calmed down from being nervous prior to departure. But before Luigi could reply, Mario giggled. "Just kidding."

"I knew you were," Luigi said before the Star Cruiser stopped at a rock platform in the center of the docking station. After disembarking, the group walked to a doorway leading to the front yard of Bowser's Castle.

"Spike, I'm gonna swap you with another partner for now, okay?" Mario told Spike.

"Okay."

"But don't think you won't participate for the rest of the adventure. We'll call you up if needed." Mario proceeded to swap Spike with Watt because he thought she would be the proper partner to accompany him and Luigi during the trek through the castle.

"All right-y, Watt," Luigi said. "It's your turn to help us out. Are you scared?"

"No, but I'm a tad bit unsure of what will happen," Watt replied.

"Well, you're pretty strong for a Li'l Sparky," Mario said. "Be yourself and you'll brave it out like me and my brother."

Without further ado, Mario and friend went through the doorway, exiting the gargoyle's head, and entered the front yard before stopping in front of the bridge leading to the front door. There was a lava river below the bridge and the front door was locked. However, there was an open doorway to the right of the front door.

"I guess we'll take the back door first," Mario said before leading Luigi and Watt toward the open doorway, officially setting foot in Bowser's Castle. The first hall they entered included the lava river that flowed from outside. There was a single Koopatrol that paced back and forth next to a dungeon cell.

Upon noticing the cell bars, Mario immediately knew there were some Toads locked up in there. "I hope Toadsworth is in that cell. I bet he'll be delighted to see us."

"Hey, you!" the Koopatrol shouted, having heard Mario's voice. "No plumbers allowed!" The Koopatrol came rushing with his spear, but Mario acted quick and hopped onto the spear, causing the Koopatrol to fall face-first.

"You know, I would toss you into the lava river, but that would make me a criminal whether I'm fighting the evil or the good," Mario quipped. "Hold still." Mario rummaged through the Koopatrol's uniform pockets and found a yellow key with a blue gem in the center.

"Let me guess: you're the one told by Bowser to lock the front door, right?" Luigi asked after catching up to Mario.

"To tell you the truth, yes," the Koopatrol answered. "And to let you in on something, King Bowser ordered me not to lie. So, you know what? I'll let you do your thing. Free whoever I locked up. I don't care." With that, the Koopatrol ran away, leaving his spear behind. Mario threw the spear into the lava before hurrying to the cell; there were three Toads inside.

"Mario! Luigi!" one of the Toads shouted with glee upon seeing the Mario Bros. "Get us out now!"

"One second," Mario replied while trying to find a keyhole on the bars. There was nothing. "I can't use this key to get you out. Sorry."

"Is there another way?" the second Toad asked. While he spoke with Mario, Luigi walked past the cell and saw some cracks on the wall to the right of the cell.

"Mario! We can blow up this wall!" Luigi called out. Mario immediately swapped Watt with Bombette, who hurried to Luigi and blew herself up to break the wall open. There was a small tunnel that went left toward the cell. Again, Bombette blew up the wall within the dungeon to free the Toads.

"Oh, yes!" "Thank you, Luigi!" "You're a savior!" the Toads exclaimed. One of them hugged Luigi's leg, surprising him almost immediately.

"Any time, my friend," Luigi said while patting the Toad's head. After walking the Toads out of their cell, they stopped for a second.

"How are we gonna get outta here?" the third Toad asked.

"Let me and Mario take you this way," Luigi responded, pointing to the doorway leading to the front yard. Once the Toads joined Mario, he and Luigi walked with them across the bridge and stopped them short of the docking station.

"Go into the docking station," Mario instructed the Toads. "There's a blue and white ship that will take you to the Star Road. Once you get off, the ship will come back here to help the other prisoners out of the castle. But remember it can fit up to four people at a time."

Right on cue, the Toads hurried to the Star Cruiser and strapped themselves in for the ten-minute ride to the Star Road's palace. Mario, Luigi, and Bombette waited next to the docking station for the Star Cruiser to come back. Shortly after the ship arrived again, Mario swapped Bombette with Watt.

"Mario, next time, we should keep going through the castle after freeing the next few prisoners," Luigi said. "It would take too long to walk everyone to the ship and go back to where we left off."

"Good idea," Mario agreed before he went with Luigi and Watt to the front door. He unlocked the door with the key before going inside. The next hall had more lava surrounding the path than the back entrance. Two Koopatrols roamed around, waiting for Mario and Luigi to show up.

"Dude, keep your eyes open," the first Koopatrol told the second one. "The sooner we take out the Mario Bros., the sooner King Bowser will give us that promotion."

"Oh, yeah!" the second Koopatrol responded. "I've always wanted-" Suddenly, the Koopatrols started walking around in random directions, their eyes rolling all over the place. They then collapsed on their backs, unable to pick themselves up.

It turned out Luigi tossed his Dizzy Dial at the Koopatrols to temporarily immobilize them.

"Hurry! Go!" Luigi ordered Mario and Watt, who ran with him past the dazed Koopatrols into the next hall. This time, there were three Hammer Bros standing in the way.

"New plan: sneak around those Hammer Bros," Mario whispered before swapping Watt with Bow. With a snap of his fingers, Bow touched Mario's head, turning him invisible. Luigi decided to straddle the shadowed portion of the hall. While Bow and Mario moved forward casually, Luigi stayed behind to ambush the Hammer Bros.

Upon seeing the first Hammer Bro, Luigi took a few seconds to think of a quick plan. He then said, "Hello!", prompting the Hammer Bro to turn to him. Luigi took the short opportunity to charge the Hammer Bro and snatch his hammer before batting him toward the front entrance.

With the Hammer Bro's hammer in his hand, Luigi snuck up behind the second Hammer Bro and threw the hammer at his head, knocking him out. He thought about taking the other hammer and use both hammers to knock out the third one but decided against it because it would've been overkill.

Again, Luigi threw the first Hammer Bro's hammer at the third one to knock him out before catching up with Mario and Bow.

"That was great, Luigi," Bow congratulated Luigi. "I never thought you were an expert at stealth."

"It's my specialty nowadays," Luigi replied. After Mario swapped Bow with Watt again, everyone arrived at a room with three mini Bowser statues on the left-hand side and a door with a giant Bowser face in the center.

"Okay... That's even creepier than the gargoyle..." Luigi murmured. He wasn't as afraid as when he was in Boo's Mansion, but the Bowser face was enough to kind of scare him.

"Bloooaaahhhhhhhh! Welcome, you worms!" the door suddenly bellowed. His voice caused everyone to fall backward due to the extreme startlement.

"That door didn't just talk!" Mario exclaimed while veryone stood back up.

"Oh, I can talk for sure!" the door responded. "I'm called the Guard Door of Bowser's Castle. It's my job to keep suspicious types from entering. You must be Mario along with your scaredy-cat brother-"

"I'M NOT A SCAREDY-CAT!" Luigi loudly interrupted. "THAT'S THE LAST THING YOU'D WANT TO CALL ME!"

"Oh, what are you gonna do? Destroy me? Please!"

"I will if you test me again..." Luigi threatened while pointing at the Guard Door.

"All right. I'll leave you alone," the Guard Door lied. "Let me guess: you want to go through here? Hmm?"

"Yeah. We do," Mario replied.

"Okay, then. Hehehe. Stand in front of me. I won't do nothing."

Instead of stepping forward, Mario remembered something that happened way earlier.

TWO DAYS AGO

"Guys, just in case there are some Coins in this block, would you please stand with me to get your shares?"

"Sure." "Good idea," Goombario and Luigi answered respectively. Upon hitting the block from underneath, a red wristband with five white buttons and a black depression on the top popped out before Mario caught it.

"Hmm... I've never seen an item like-" Mario started to say while looking at the wristband. Suddenly, the floor underneath Mario, Luigi, and Goombario's feet fell open in two halves, causing them to fall into a black pit below.

PRESENT DAY

"Wait a minute..." Mario started. "I know what you want us to do."

"What are you saying, Mario?" the Guard Door asked.

"You know I'm leading up to," Mario replied.

"You're not making any sense."

"You're trying to trick us by trapping us in the dungeon!" Watt declared.

"What? How would I do such a thing?" the Guard Door questioned.

"We know better," Luigi answered. "We may have been dumb a couple days ago, but one of our partners taught us a valuable lesson: to not fall for temptation."

"Yeah. You choose to not fall for temptation, right?" the Guard Door said with sarcasm. "I'm not trying to tempt you. I'm being nice enough to let you through."

"Then try me," Mario boasted while stepping in front of the Guard Door. Two seconds later, a trap door beneath Mario's feet opened, but Mario was quick enough to back-flip away in time. Upon landing next to Luigi and Watt, Mario did the V-sign with a smile on his face.

"I... I-I d-don't..." the Guard Door stuttered with shock.

"You see what I mean, sir?" Mario stated. "Me and my brother are WAY smarter than you think."

"Ugh! All right... You win, Mario and Luigi... Just mind the gap..." The Guard Door opened, revealing a massive foyer. Mario and Luigi did the High Jump technique to cross the pit while Watt floated alongside them. The foyer's upper level led to an east path with the bottom level leading downstairs.

"Let's see what's downstairs first," Mario said. He slowly went down the stairs with Luigi and Watt following behind. They eventually saw a Koopatrol walking back and forth next to another dungeon cell.

"Watt, fry that guard," Luigi whispered to Watt, who floated above the Koopatrol and waited a couple seconds before slamming on his head, electrocuting him in the process. After the Koopatrol fell on his back, Mario and Luigi ran downstairs and found two Toads, a Bumpty, and a Dryite trapped in the cell.

"Mario! Luigi!" a familiar voice called out. Mario and Luigi turned to see Nathan "Toad" T. run up to the bars.

"Toad! Nice to see you again!" Mario greeted Toad while Luigi searched the Koopatrol's uniform pocket before finding a gray key.

"I owe you two a big one!" Toad said with delight. Luigi handed Mario the key, which he used to unlock the cell. Then, Toad and the other prisoners ran out before high-fiving Mario and Luigi.

"Hold on a second," Toad said, stopping the celebration abruptly. "Unless Mario and Luigi show us out of here, we're still stuck."

"Don't worry, Toad. We'll find an easy way out. Follow me," Mario stated before leading Toad and his friends to where the Guard Door was located. Meanwhile, Luigi and Watt went to the foyer and waited upstairs.

"Can you jump across the pit?" Mario asked Toad.

"Yes, I can. But you may need to toss the rest over." Without further ado, Toad made it to the other side while Mario threw the other prisoners over safely.

"Run forward to the front entrance and you'll find yourselves in the front yard," Mario instructed everyone. "Head over to the gargoyle, which serves as a docking station for several ships. There's a blue and white ship that will take you to the Star Road, where the Star Spirits will take care of you until me and Luigi save Princess Peach."

"But one of you will have to wait 20 minutes because the ship can hold up to four people and it takes 20 minutes to do a round-trip," Mario went on. "Understood?"

"Yes." "Yeah." "Sure." "Absolutely." "Understood," Toad and his friends replied.

"Let's go, guys!" Toad said to his friends before they hurried to the docking station for the ride home.

After Mario rejoined Luigi and Watt, Luigi asked, "How many more prisoners are there?"

"Well, I can guarantee you the next one should have Toadsworth and Jim inside," Mario replied.

"They better be, because I'm giving Jim a big hug after we unlock the cell," Luigi said. "He's so gonna cry when he sees our faces."

Without further ado, the group continued down the next hall, which was guarded by two Magikoopas and one Koopatrol. Mario decided to use his Fire Flower to take out the Magikoopas but knew that the Koopatrol is immune to fireballs.

"Luigi, you trip that guard like I did before we saved the first few prisoners," Mario told Luigi. "I'm toasting those Magikoopas." Mario then took out his Fire Flower and crushed it in his fist, turning his cap and shirt white; however, his overalls stayed red.

Mario and Luigi charged the Magikoopas and the Koopatrol, who saw them approaching and ran toward them too. Mario leaped up and threw two fireballs at each of the Magikoopas, burning them to ashes instantly. Meanwhile, Luigi jumped and landed on the Koopatrol's spear, causing him to fall face-first; Luigi then batted the Koopatrol away with the spear. Simultaneously, Mario's Fire form wore off.

There was no time to celebrate, so the group pressed on. The next room had a tall staircase guarded by multiple Bombshell Bill Blasters.

"If only I had an Invincibility Star," Mario sighed, having remembered how he destroyed the Bill Blasters guarding the Koopa Bros. Fortress battle arena.

"What's Plan B?" Watt asked. Mario took about a minute to come up with a secondary plan.

"Watt, fly to the very top," Mario instructed Watt. "Me and Luigi have a couple tricks up our sleeves." He turned to Luigi. "Am I right, bro?"

Luigi nodded his head. Just as Watt took off to the top of the staircase, Mario and Luigi approached the first two Bombshell Bill Blasters. Next, Luigi backed up several steps behind Mario, who held his hands behind his back. Finally, Luigi lunged toward Mario, who grabbed his hands and spun him around four times before letting him fly feet-first onto the first Bombshell Bill Blaster, destroying it completely. Luigi was thrown back from the explosive shockwave before Mario caught his hands again and spun him around four more times before Luigi went in feet-first and destroyed the second Bombshell Bill Blaster.

"That was better than I thought," Luigi remarked after standing back up following the successful attack. There were two more flights of stairs that were each guarded by two more Bombshell Bill Blasters. Mario and Luigi did the same attack to destroy them all before rejoining Watt.

"That was a cool attack!" Watt squealed with joy. "What was it?"

"The Swing Bros. attack," Mario answered. "Luigi walked up behind me before lunging for my hands. I then swung him around four times before he blew through the Bill Blasters with his shoes."

"We actually did that twice in a row because the first explosion knocked me back, which was a good thing," Luigi added in before he led Mario and Watt into the next room, which was guarded by another Guard Door.

"Grooaaahhhhh! Who would've thought you could make it this far?" the Guard Door announced with irritation.

"We're the 'Super Mario Bros.' of all people, sir!" Luigi answered.

"Well, you won't make it any farther because, unfortunately for you, I won't let you pass. Graaahahahahaha!"

"You might want to reconsider," Mario rebutted calmly. "We'll make you let us pass whether you like it or not."

"In this case, if you really want, I'll give you one chance because I know there's no way you'll make it anyway. You want to give it a shot?" the Guard Door offered.

"Let's-a go!" Mario and Luigi declared.

"This is completely pointless, but I suppose I'll let you try because, of course, I have such a kind and generous heart... Just joking, worms! Grrooahhhahahahahahaha!" the Guard Door cackled.

"What do you have in store for us?" Luigi asked.

"Watch this!"

Right on cue, three Anti Guys fell in from the ceiling. Mario and Luigi became perplexed, having not seen this species of Shy Guys before.

"Gray Shy Guys?" Mario questioned. "This is too easy!"

"Too easy? Think again!" the Guard Door exclaimed. The Anti Guys' first attack was to stomp on Mario and Luigi with their spiked shoes. The Mario Bros. were quick enough to dodge the stomp attack.

Before Watt could make her move, she saw Mario take out the Hammer Suit powerup and grip the handle before becoming Hammer Mario. He was now wearing a black shell with a white border on his back and a helmet with the same appearance.

Mario tossed three hammers at the Anti Guys, who managed to grab them at throw them back at Mario. He was able to block the hammers with his helmet. Meanwhile, Luigi and Watt came up with an attack of their own.

"Did you know I can attack using thunder and lightning?" Luigi quietly asked Watt.

"No," Watt replied. "But that's a cool idea. Together, we could shock those Shy Guys even more than when I do it by myself."

Watt floated into Luigi's hands in preparation for their combined electric attack. The good news was that Luigi was not electrocuted went Watt touched his gloves. Luigi hurried up behind Mario and jumped onto his helmet, propelling him high above the Anti Guys. They were continuing to volley Mario's hammers back at him. Luigi held Watt above his head and slammed her on the middle Anti Guy's head, electrocuting him in the process. The attack created a shockwave big enough to engulf the other two Anti Guys.

Mario acted quick and threw three more hammers at the Anti Guys, bouncing them off the Guard Door and down the staircase to the bottom level.

"Grrrraaaaaaaaghhhhhhh!" the Guard Door growled. "I cannot believe it! How could you defeat those Anti Guys easily?! King Bowser told me they were some of his strongest minions ever!"

"Strong enough to what? Be immune to electricity?" Luigi taunted the Guard Door.

"Um... Th-they..." the Guard Door hesitated. "Just forget it! You two win! Oh, the shame upon me! Just go through!"

As the Guard Door opened, Mario's Hammer form wore off. At this point, Mario and Luigi used up their powerups and were on their own until they could find more nearby.

"You ready to meet Jim?" Mario asked Watt.

"Just as long as I don't accidentally shock him," Watt replied. "But I'm excited." And so, the group proceeded through the Guard Door, finding themselves outside near a staircase leading to the next floor. The good news was there were no enemies standing in the way.

After climbing the stairs, Mario spotted a Yellow Exclamation Point Block to his right-hand side. He hit the block from underneath, revealing a Super Mushroom.

"Here you go, Luigi," Mario said while handing the Super Mushroom to Luigi. "I'll probably find one myself."

Mario and friends were just one step closer to Jim's dungeon cell, if they are able to find him, and Peach's castle on the very top of Bowser's Castle.