Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 42 – Uldersal

A/N: We're staying on pace with the races and the chapters. In the future there might be two consecutive chapters involving a race.

February 9, 2015 – 12:30PM

Toad Town, Mushroom City

Recovery.

Mario still sat on that bench alone on one side and with Pauline on the other side. He anxiously looked in both directions to see some of his friends depart from the local area and his ex head back in to her castle. Pauline could tell from the way he was acting that he had some troubles on his mind.

"You're finding it hard to get over her." She broke the silence between them, not wanting to sit around on the bench in silence for the rest of the afternoon.

"Anything that I do for the good of the people is also for her good. That just puts me off all the time." He rested his head on the bench and closed his eyes in frustration. "She doesn't deserve to be in that place. Not after all that I did for her."

"She always has been." Pauline reminded him. "Laws of the land have made it so. You remember what happened to her parents, and all of the other daughters of the Kings before? Now all that is left is her, Daisy, and Éclair, and she doesn't really count."

"She may still rightfully be in that place, but what she did to me was completely out of turn. Look what it has done to me!" Mario raised his head up and revealed to Pauline a more angered face than earlier. Talking about it only seems to make it worse for him. "Have the people just ignored what happened to me?"

"They probably don't know what happened to you." She thought. "Maybe this never went public to the people and that it's only within our friendship circle of humans." Mario sighed, and banged his head on the bench intentionally. "If you don't want to move on, the best way to get back to her is by getting yourself comfortable with the others. From what I've seen, you're not really getting along with Enrique."

"I despise Enrique." Mario quickly addressed his view. "I climbed the tower of pain so that he could fly up to her. They never should have come to this land... any of them!"

"Mario..." Pauline started to lose her seriousness with him, as it looked like Mario started to act petty around her. "You can't undo the past. They all agreed to the Accords and live by the standards of the government now. They aren't doing anything wrong. Actually, Enrique's been doing more right than wrong recently. He's been up north several times to help us all out down here, and what have you been doing recently, besides crying about love? Now isn't a time for love." Mario looked up to her once again, still with a frown on his face but the anger didn't seem as open as before.

"What would I get now if I started doing good for the people again? What use is the respect of the people to me now? They already respect me for what I've been doing against Bowser for years."

"Have you ever thought that these past five years showed a decrease in your need for aid? These past five years were glory days if you ask me." Pauline tried to convince him about the times in the past. Ever since the rescue of the remaining princesses and the reformation of the southern Kingdoms (events of the Prequels), Bowser had become less and less of a threat. Day by day his allies would fall, and more and more people would give in to the new laws of the south and Koopas and Toads would mostly live side by side in harmony unlike the north. Bowser himself would then be captured on New Years' Day of 2015, concluding his reign of terror and leading the Mushroom Accords to be implemented. Pauline's reference to the glory days indicated the period up until around today. Due to the rising problems coming from the north, those days might soon come to an end, leading to a new era possibly.

"Tom and Enrique saved the princesses once. How many times have I done that? Bowser kidnapped Peach one in every ten chance he could because of me. Enrique went back home for most of these times and Tom spent them loitering and exploring while I was still at her service." Mario finally thought of a point to put across in his argument, but was immediately under fire from Pauline with another question afterwards.

"Why did you do it then?" She made him freeze his argument. "What was your goal?"

"I... had plans..." He began to stutter, questioning to himself whether he should say this in front of Pauline. "...to marry her, this half-year at earliest." She only felt slightly moved by what he said, knowing that the two once had a small thing together in the past when they were significantly younger.

"That would have meant you would become the new King." She began to understand his thought, as well as knowing the fact that he damn well loved her to bits. "That makes a lot of sense." The two paused for a brief moment. Pauline could tell from the way he said it that he didn't want to let everyone else know about it. "You're one of my best friends Mario, I won't tell anyone else about this."

"Thank you." He immediately replied. "I was going to tell you not to tell anyone anyway. I haven't even told Luigi about this. He thinks I have gotten over her though."

"I have an idea." Pauline smiled, trying to lift Mario's spirits. "I may not be able to find someone else for you, but I can sure as hell try to make you feel better about yourself around her."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Why don't you let her deal with the messes at the moment? Why don't you and I go for some nice dinner somewhere and talk about what we can do whilst they handle it all? If you ask me I'm not really about this siege and war stuff. I'd rather make sure that the people I'm in charge of are safe and that's what matters to me." Mario smiled back at her, taking a liking to her new idea. "Let's enjoy ourselves while they stress about the north. I was up there not long ago and it was very dangerous. I don't want to ever go up there again until I am assured that everything is safe there."

"That sounds amazing." Mario cheered. "Thank you for being here for me, Pauline."

"The pleasure is all mine." She got up from her seat on the bench and walked over to Mario, who was also getting up, on the other side. She gave him a big hug and looked down on him, trying to see the smile that now appeared on his face genuinely. "Let's go and get some food. What do you say to the Grand Green Hall in Super Bell City, at six?"

"It's a date." The two began to part ways by the bench. Mario headed out of Toad Town in the direction of where his friends went, and Pauline headed back towards the doors of Peach's Castle.

8:00PM

Uldersal, North Delfino

Within the time between Rosalina departing Uldersal and returning again, the place had completely changed. As they arrived from the southeast in Luigi's car, the four noticed that campsites and grounds were set up along the hills surrounding the city. Beyond those lied a completely different town. It looked entirely like a battleground. Houses were barricaded. Streets were empty. Fences were built around the town square in the centre and the bridges had been blocked off. As the four got out of the car the first place they wanted to inspect was the manor. They were both amazed and frightened to see what the Asquias and the Rovins were able to do to a city in a day. Luigi gulped, staring down on the empty streets ahead.

"He's never going to surrender." Daisy said with anger. "Look at how he's massacred the city!" The others kept looking down to see if they could spot any figures of goons hiding within some of the buildings. Whilst they were doing that, they were noticed by other Toad Patrol guards situated near the campsites. Two armed Toad Patrol guards started walking towards them, trying to get their attention.

"Princess Daisy, Sir Luigi, Princess Rosalina, and... Enrique." The two Toads bowed in front of them. "Allow us to introduce ourselves." One of them spoke first.

"My name is Toadminsk, and this is Toadskip of the Delfino Patrol." Toadminsk, the second one to speak, spoke. "We were chosen by our soldiers to be the commanders of this assault. Seeing as we were given word that you were coming to our aid, how do you propose we reclaim the city, if you have a different idea?"

"We don't have much time." Rosalina spoke before any of the others. "I am inept of my magic and I need my wand back immediately. I need us to infiltrate the manor from above in attempts to rescue the Captain and get my wand back from whoever has it."

"What she said." Enrique added awkwardly.

"Good." Toadskip replied. "That was our intended way. We have thousands ready to assault on all sides."

"Don't do that yet." Rosalina halted the Toad's speech. "The streets are empty, they will be hiding." The two Toads looked at eachother and tried to recall any other plans they had.

"Princess Rosalina, we cannot see any of them and we are unsure on the weapons they possess. How should we go in without any risk of a trap?" She thought for a few seconds until somebody else spoke for her.

"Keep the borders checked. Make sure no Koopa or Pianta working for the Asquias and the Rovins gets out of this city." Luigi informed the two Toads for the time being. "Perhaps we should coordinate a means to infiltrate the manor without them knowing either."

"How about a sneak assault?" Enrique suggested. "There's got to be some way we can get through in to the town without being seen. Are there any ways back up to the town if we go down by the river?"

"There are." Toadminsk came to his aid and presented a map to the others. "Here's a map of the city. We are here, and the Asquia Manor is there." Everyone nearby gathered around Toadminsk and Toadskip to look at the map more closely. "You might be able to get in to the city if you go via this entrance here." He pointed his fingers on the map and traced out a route that went along the river and underneath most of the buildings to get in to the main area of the town. The passage would lead to a series of alleyways that would lead them straight to the town square.

"I've got an idea." Enrique got everyone's attention once again. "Give me your best pistol, and all the bullets you can get me." People around him began to gasp. "I will get the wand back myself."

"That's too dangerous." Toadskip suggested.

"Then I will go with him. We will retrieve the wand and Captain Toad with as few casualties as possible." Luigi tried to stand up to Enrique, but was immediately blocked by Daisy.

"I'm not going to let you go in to the danger. You are worth more than this!" She tried to persuade him to not go with Enrique. The Toads nearby didn't like the idea of one or two people going alone in to a city where those in it would shoot on sight.

"Going right in is a death trap. You will get yourselves killed!" Toadminsk tried to stop Enrique's idea of infiltrating Uldersal.

"Listen to me." He tried to convince. "Keep the borders occupied. Get their attention. Its better I risk my life going in there than you lot risking all of your lives by staying on the border. They wouldn't suspect me coming."

"Enrique..." Rosalina tried to get his attention as he started finding any weapon he could get his hands on. "...I cannot help you here without any magic. Are you sure you are going to be fine?" He turned around and looked back at her with a sincere look, giving a wink at the very end before turning back around to find a weapon. At one of the campsites guarded by Toads, he found a pistol on top of a munitions crate. It was just the weapon he needed. All he had to do now was load the gun and pick up as many ammunition boxes as he could to fit in his pockets.

"Excuse me, is that Enrique?" One of the Toads by the camp noticed him taking the weapon. "What are you doing with that pistol?"

"It's mine now, and I'm going to save Captain Toad." The Toads looked clueless at him but let him walk off with the gun and ammo anyway. He started walking back to the Toad Patrol commanders and the others by the map, who walked over to him as well.

"Enrique, don't do this. It's too dangerous!" Daisy begged him not to go. The Toad commanders also advised him not to go, but he refused.

"I know what I'm doing. I will have my phone on silent, so I will be texting you as I get through the town." He pointed to Luigi.

"Do you still want me to come with you?" He asked once again, worrying Daisy beside him.

"No, I'll be alright. Stay back here, and make sure their attention is diverted to the borders. Stay in touch." He then nodded to Rosalina once more and took the map from the Toads.

"He's not stopping..." Toadminsk said anxiously, watching Enrique descend the hill they were on down to the nearby river that flowed in to the city. Toadskip turned around and got out his pager, about to address all of the Toad Patrol that guarded the borders.

"I need everyone up and at your positions. Commence Operation Challenge, let's go!" He yelled through the pager. Luigi followed the two Toads down to the southeast barricades on the road that led out of the city. Daisy and Rosalina followed behind them, both really nervous. As Rosalina started descending down the hill behind everyone else, she received a text. It was from Enrique:

"I will be messaging you as well. Keep it secret and don't let anyone else know. I will be finding your wand first."...

...

Enrique was completely silent after crossing the river that flowed through Uldersal. The buildings around him were all so high and on top of cliffs, so he had to find a way to travel back up to the inner city from the shore of the river. He could hear voices in the distance coming from the edges of the town where some of the followers of the Asquias and the Rovins would meet the Toad Patrol. Enrique had his gun lowered and found himself a small slope that he remembered seeing on the map, leading up to the end of one of the alleyways near the middle of the town. As he ascended the slope the voices he could hear began to fade away from hearing, and all he could hear now was the wind and his own footsteps.

He had just reached the alley, and around the corner was nobody in sight. There were doors on both sides, surprisingly not blocked up. To him this could mean that there were some Koopa goons inside. Enrique crept through the alleyway, staying out of the way of the barrels and bins that were still there on the sides. He raised his pistol once he reached the first door on his left and noticed it was ajar. There was a window on top the bin beside the door. Maybe he could quietly climb up the bin to peer in through the window to see if there was anybody inside the house. After making only a tiny creak sound, Enrique found out that there was nobody inside the first room of the house. With relief, he got back down and nudged the door open slightly, giving enough space for himself to slide through the tiny gap.

The lights were off, and there were only sounds coming from upstairs. No voices, only crickets, creaks and crunches coming from potentially some Koopa goon upstairs. He began to head that way, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. They went upwards and turned to the right, giving him no sight of the top of the stairs from where he was currently standing. Again, there were no voices coming from above. If it was an empty floor, then it would help Enrique get a view of the surrounding area from one of the windows. As he slowly crept up the stairs, he noticed that the entire room was tattered and broken down. Boxes were on the floor, bits of smashed objects scattered the room and the wooden floorboards were breaking apart. One thing he could see ahead of him was a mirror, and the reflection of the rest of the room thanks to the light coming from the windows in the room. There in the mirror he found his first encounter; a Koopa who didn't seem to be very watchful. He looked dozy from what Enrique could see in the mirror, as if he was about to drift off to sleep, but he was also armed. It was a weapon that looked like it was from Earth, and it looked semi-automatic as well. Enrique snuck closer and closer to the top of the stairs right before he could finally see the edge of the Koopas face without looking at the mirror. Thankfully for Enrique, there wasn't any light showing by him at the stairs, so neither of them could see him in the mirror.

It was his time to strike, Enrique got out his pocket knife instead of the pistol and leapt up the top stair, jumping on to the Koopa and holding him down before he could react and grab hold of his rifle. The rifle was pointing to the floor and the arms of the Koopa were wrapped above his shell. Enrique had him pinned down to the floor, holding his knife out and gently touching the tip of it against the back of the Koopa's neck.

"Scream for help and you die..." Enrique threatened. "Where is Captain Toad?"

"This voice sounds awfully familiar." The Koopa grinned, not yet being able to catch a glimpse of Enrique as his head was facing the floorboards. "Aren't you the human that's always on TV now?" He could already tell that the Koopa wanted to stall as much as possible. Before Enrique spoke again, he positioned himself to be sitting directly on the shell of the Koopa pinned down. The Koopa tried moving about but he was finally locked in place. Enrique also moved the rifle down the arm of the Koopa and became able to step on it with his right foot, keeping that also pinned down and facing away from either of them.

"I'm not here to play games with you." said Enrique as he tried to get himself to hold both of the Koopa's hands in place with only his left hand, making himself able to move about with the knife in his right hand. "If you value your life over someone else's who you work for, I suggest you start talking."

"You wouldn't dare take another Koopa's life when you're already this famous." The Koopa still stalled and made Enrique realise it, frustrating him even more. He took the knife from the back of the Koopa's neck pointed it over towards his eyes, right in front of him.

"You're making this difficult for yourself." Enrique began to realise. "I will kill you if you don't answer me. If I torture you, you would only scream for help and then that would lead me to killing you anyway." He wanted to find a way to get the answers out of the Koopa without him alerting anybody else nearby or killing him in the process.

"See, I told you!" The Koopa joked around. "You can't even kill me." As angered as Enrique could be right now, he got up from the Koopa's shell and rolled him over so that he was lying down on his shell. Enrique picked up the rifle and tossed it to the back at the room, well out of the way for the Koopa to reach. Whilst he was still down, Enrique stepped on his arms and pulled the shell with his own and dragged it from the Koopa, leaving him shell-less. The Koopa began to wail quietly in pain, now being held at knife point again. This time he could finally see who was pinning him.

"Enrique... You are the worst thing that's ever come to this land." That was the last taunt he let the Koopa say to him.

"Do you fear death, Koopa?" Enrique asked, holding the knife down to him. "I will ask you one last time, where is Captain Toad?"

"Never... We've sent him up to the stars." The Koopa kept laughing, thinking that Enrique was a coward. "Tell your filthy bitch princess that."

"I warned you." Enrique said softly, going down to stab the Koopa three times across his chest. The grin he had completely changed to a worrisome frown after realising what had just happened to him.

"The Asquias will find you." The Koopa watched the blood slowly leave his body, causing him to choke frequently. "We are all... hostile..." He said his final words before eventually closing his eyes and leaning back down to the ground, flat on the floor. Enrique mourned the body for a few seconds before getting out his phone. He first sent a text to Luigi, saying: 'I've entered a building, can't see any leads so far' then he sent a second text to Rosalina, this time saying: 'There was a Koopa in this building. He had a weapon that I believe might be from Earth. He also said "we are all hostile" before he died'. He then now looked out of the windows, noticing that they were mostly blocked and covered up. Leaning against a table, he began to realise that this room he was in was a bedroom, most likely belonging to a Pianta citizen, now completely massacred.

The alley ahead was empty, but voices started becoming heard. They were still quite a distance away from him, but they weren't coming in the direction towards the manor. Enrique went across the room to peer out of another window. This one was facing the manor. There he could see a few figures standing beside a campfire and several crates of weapons. These Koopas were more armed than any of the Toad Patrol he saw on the outskirts of the town. Looking at his map again, he knew that in front of him was the right direction to go, and sneaking in to the opposite building via the other door in the alley was the next thing to do.

9:00PM

This building actually had voices coming from the inside. As soon as he opened the door, he heard a few voices of Koopas coming from the floor above. Some things were distinguishable, but he couldn't piece together the context behind what they were saying.

"...and that's why we shouldn't send them west." He heard one of them say, providing no use to him whatsoever. His guess was that all of them were armed with some weapons like the one he saw the other Koopa have, likely coming from Earth. Enrique forgot to take the weapon with him to examine later, so either he would have to take one from someone else if he was to bring one back, or not bring one back at all.

"Are you hearing something downstairs?" He overheard another Koopa, this time worrying him a little. He could hear the movements of the Koopas shifting about upstairs, and some footsteps treading on the stairs. Enrique got out his pistol and hid himself under the table in the room he was in. It appeared to be that the surroundings of the room resembled that of a dining room, and a destroyed kitchen was behind him. The stairs were slightly to his right. Two Koopas appeared at the bottom of the stairs, not quite noticing Enrique under the table yet. They both had their eyes towards the back door of the house; leading another alley perpendicular to the one Enrique came from.

"Nobody's outside right?" One of the Koopas said to the other.

"Only those that are on border duty." The other replied back. "If we do see a Toad though, we would shoot them."

"Is any Toad outside though?" Enrique was debating whether to open fire on the two with his pistol. He wanted to wait to see if he could get anything about their movement from their chatter before shooting them. He knew that these two were likely to be involved in the shooting of the Toad Patrol guards in the manor courtyard.

"I don't think so." The Koopas downstairs looked out the windows, finding any Toad they could see. They opened the back door slightly and had a small look around from there, but they would eventually realise that there weren't any.

"Well once they come they will fall in to the same trap, and we'll shoot them all again." That was it for Enrique. Time for him to raise his pistol from under the table and shoot the two Koopas by surprise.

"What's all the fuss about downstairs?" Enrique was just about to pull the trigger but froze instantly after hearing a third voice coming from upstairs. The first thought that came in to his mind wasn't just the fact that there was a third Koopa, but that there might be more than three in this building.

"Nothing, we just thought we heard something outside." One of the Koopas by the back door called up to those upstairs.

"Well there's a lot of noise coming from outside. Nothing special. If we were being attacked, we'd know. That's why were in these positions." The Koopa from upstairs complained at the two. "Come back up to your rooms now-."

"Taur told us specially to stay here." Another Koopa voice coming from upstairs interrupted the first one.

"Will you not talk over me?" The Koopas upstairs began to argue, muttering indistinguishable dialogue. The two Koopas in front of Enrique started to walk up the stairs together as well, leaving the back door ajar, conveniently for him to use next. He would then start to hear inaudible chatter from all of the voices he could hear. The amount of unique voices he assumed were up there was five, way more than the one Koopa in the house opposite. Enrique started to squeeze himself out from under the table and get up to walk over towards the door quietly. The back door to the next alley was moving slightly due to the wind, but didn't seem wide enough for him to fit through without making any extra noise. It creaked a few times and started to bother him.

"Did you guys close that door?" The angry Koopa voice was heard from upstairs again, potentially making someone come back downstairs to assess the door. In a rush, Enrique deliberately opened the door widely, but not widely enough to hit anything. It creaked once, and then a second time after he leapt out and left it ajar again, only being moved by the wind now. Luckily for him, nobody was in the alleyway. The nearest people by the campfires were just on the road to the right of the alley. Enrique didn't want to go in to the next house as one: he could already hear voices from the top floor of the building – it seemed like this one had a balcony to it and the doors to it were open – and two: the door on the other side is most likely the one next to the campfire with the heavily armed Koopas sitting beside it.

It was quite a dead end for Enrique now, but thankfully for him the alleyway went on for quite a bit before reaching the end. He began to realise that this wasn't more of an alleyway but instead more of a thin road. There was a destroyed car parked at the end of it next to a fence. On the other side of the fence Enrique could get a glimpse of what would be the lower or southern bridge to the Asquia estate. The Koopa followers of the family had completely destroyed the walkway of the bridge, having the deck of it half-submerged into the river and lots of girder pieces bent and loose. He couldn't think of any way besides a massive explosion that could cause the bridge to be like this. That was until he saw what was actually causing it. For the first time, Enrique spotted Jenna Asquia, wielding Rosalina's wand on the other side of the destroyed bridge. Next to her were several Koopas and a Magikoopa, also wielding a wand, most likely his own. The Magikoopa could be seen demonstrating to Jenna how to move certain objects with the wand. He let out a beacon of light that wrapped around part of the girder, causing it to move out of position and twist around, eventually causing it to break and collapse from the rest of the bridge. Enrique watched Jenna learn to do it herself with Rosalina's wand unsuccessfully. She wasn't proficient in being able to move objects yet with the wand. Enrique hid within the alley and got out his phone a second time. He received replies from both Luigi and Rosalina, and began to address them. Luigi had responded back to him with: 'Are you getting closer to the manor?' in which Enrique replied: 'I'm almost there. Captain Toad and the wand are likely to be there.' Rosalina's response to his first message was: 'What else did he say?' and 'Are you going to find my wand first? Please do.' Enrique didn't want to tell Luigi about what the dead Koopa said about Captain Toad. He wanted to see it to believe it. As he stayed put in the alley, he started texting back to Rosalina. 'He said that they killed Captain Toad, but I don't want to confirm this yet. Also I have seen your wand. It might now be in the hands of one of those cousins Mario mentioned... They are both female right?' He sent.

He got back an immediate 'Yes' from Rosalina, followed by a 'Get it back for me.'

'She's with many others, including a Magikoopa who is teaching her how to move objects.' Enrique replied back before setting off again.

'Take it from her if she is alone. Shoot her if you have to.' Rosalina wasn't usually one for violence, but the case of having her wand stolen and actually being shot by someone else involved (which Enrique didn't yet know about) was reasonable for her to act this way. Enrique peered around at the fence again and looked through, having a clear sight of Jenna and now a clear shot of both her and the Magikoopa. He began to think of what would happen if he took the shots and hit both the Magikoopa and Jenna with them. The thing most likely to happen is he would get found out about and shot by a Koopa himself. Best wait until everything was clear and that she was alone. As he was there, Enrique kept watching what the Magikoopa and Jenna were doing with the wands. Although the bridge had been destroyed, the Magikoopa managed to construct a wooden walkway across it to act as a temporary bridge instead. The Koopas next to them started to cheer around them.

"Hooray for Kromark!" They chanted, assuming that Kromark was the name of the Magikoopa. They began to cross the bridge and meet with the other Koopas by their campfires on the other side of the bridge. It seemed now to Enrique that the road across the next buildings he was leaning against was also situated along the town square, a place that only days ago were occupied heavily by Toad Patrol guards. The problem for him now was finding out how to cross the bridge to get in to the Asquia estate. There were no paths coming from the river that led up to the courtyard and all other entrances besides the bridge were blocked off. The hills and cliffs on the other side of the manor were also controlled by the Asquias and the Rovins, blocking any Toad Patrol guards from scouting the area nearby. Enrique decided to get out his phone once again to message Rosalina. He for once had no way in mind that would get him across to Jenna and Kromark; both were still talking to eachother at the entrance to the courtyard.

'I have no idea how to get in to the courtyard unseen.' He texted first. What he did next was use the camera on his phone to take a picture of the view he had from the end of the alley, sending it to Rosalina. He had received another text from Luigi, but it was just him wishing him luck on searching for the wand and Captain Toad. He then also stated that they tried to create a distraction for most of the Koopas guarding the city. This was from the other side and the outskirts, so Enrique didn't notice anybody react to it nearby yet.

'You've got to get across the bridge somehow.' Rosalina's next text read. She had seen Jenna and Kromark in the picture behind the fence, but noticed that the way across was completely under surveillance. 'I can't think of anything to do there that would distract them for you. You will have to reveal yourself if you are to retrieve it for me successfully.' She said again.

Enrique only had one idea left to do, which was to climb up the building beside him and get on to the rooftop. The balcony from the other building was far enough away from him for his movements to be heard, and the view from above might help him even more. The roof was pointed, making it possible for him to hide himself between the points and get a better look across the bridge.

After climbing up and sneaking around, Enrique started to hear several voices coming from both below and inside the house. There were Asquia and Rovin followers guarding the house he was on and many more guarding the bridge. Their purpose for laying claim to Uldersal was still unknown to him, but maybe soon he could find out why. He still hasn't seen Joharnés or his other cousin yet. This made him get out his phone once again to ask Luigi for a picture of anyone of importance. He also forwarded the message to Rosalina individually. Within a few seconds he had received pictures of photos of Joharnés Asquia and his two cousins, Jenna and Cyra. They were quite distinguishable and Enrique could tell from the picture that the female Koopa standing next to Kromark was in fact Jenna. He had also been given a picture of Taur Rovin, the Godfather of the Rovin family, and Mikey Clagbo, also known as Joharnés' right-hand man. From these, he could also point out Mikey from a crowd of Koopas not too far behind where Jenna was. All of them seemed to be readying themselves for something.

Enrique waited for a good ten minutes before he saw any movement happen from the courtyard. Whatever the distraction the Toad Patrol made had finally reached the attention of those by the courtyard. Mikey Clagbo rallied the Koopas that were with him there and rushed across the bridge with them. Kromark was seen speaking to Jenna for a little while longer before running off in to one of the buildings surrounding the courtyard. What was left was a nervous Jenna, standing by the bridge with her wand out. Enrique had a clear shot of her with his pistol, debating whether it was the right moment to shoot her. His improvisation flashed through his mind. This could be it for him: shoot and kill the Koopa, rush down the roof to the bridge, run across it, snatch the wand and then slide down the deck in to the river, getting out of sight of the Koopas that would notice him...

...

He just realised something, she was also looking back at him. Enrique's eyes widened in surprise as her position froze in to place. He thought that maybe her life flashed before her eyes as well, knowing that she had a gun pointing at her. For a few seconds the two both kept their positions, not moving an inch until Enrique mouthed the words 'drop the wand' slowly at her. She gulped, not knowing what to do. He then mouthed 'don't make me do it' hoping she would understand him, but thankfully her frozen body made her lose grip of the wand, letting it slide out of her hand and fall to the ground. Without having any time to get the wand, Jenna leapt to the side and hid herself inside one of the buildings by the bridge, the opposite one to the building that Kromark had gone in to. The wand was still on the floor, and the Koopas below had left their campfires, heading out of the town square and to the borders of the city. There was quite a bit of a drop to his left, but Enrique decided to slide down the edge of the roof and land on the pavement of the road that led towards the destroyed bridge. He couldn't see any Koopas nearby, so he made a run for it across the bridge. As he was running across he began to hear sounds of Koopas shouting about inside the buildings across the bridge, causing him to slow down once he reached the other side. The wand was now only a few metres in front of him, but two open doors were on either side. Enrique stopped and hid behind one of the barricades that were always there at the end of the destroyed bridge, keeping him out of sight for the time being. Nobody was on the other side of the bridge, so it felt rather safe to him for the moment. Through a hole in the barricade he could see Jenna trying to hide from him. She was armed this time, and her gun was a pistol, pointing towards where the wand was on the floor. He could tell that she was still nervous as the gun was rattling in her hands from fright. Enrique decided to fire his weapon through the hole to just miss Jenna slightly, causing her to panic in reaction to the sound of the bullet hitting the door. She panicked and hid further in to the building, allowing Enrique to make an attempt to grab the wand.

"He's here, he's here! Enrique's on the inside!" He heard her shout from the inside. Enrique grabbed the wand and immediately turned back around to make way for the river, but just as he was about to jump, his movement froze and he was left hovering in the air just before the edge of the bridge. He was able to pivot his limbs, but his position was locked in the air. A bubble shield surrounded him, and it came from a beam coming from the wand belonging to Kromark. He had showed up from inside the opposite building and caught Enrique in his tracks, just in time.

"Got you!" Kromark laughed. Enrique could tilt his head to look behind himself to see Kromark holding him in the air. Jenna then showed up with two other Koopas from the inside of the right building, all armed and pointing their guns at him. Jenna opened fire with her pistol, going towards Enrique, but the bullet reflected off of the bubble shield and fell to the floor. "Don't shoot him, the bullets don't go through." Kromark said again, directed at her.

"You should be grateful." Enrique spoke to Jenna from inside the bubble shield. I could have shot you from the rooftop." He tried to move about to break from the shield but nothing seemed to do anything.

"You had a chance." Jenna replied. "But you were too scared to take the shot. You humans are weak." Upon hearing that, Enrique took a shot at her again from the inside of the bubble shield, piercing through but having its speed reduced to zero, falling to the floor upon exiting the shield. The bubble filled the hole back in immediately, still being channelled by Kromark's wand. Jenna jumped in reaction to hearing the sound of the bullet being fired from the pistol. "I said you had a chance!" She said again but with a bit more anger and emphasis on the word had.

"So you take pride in the fact that I didn't kill you?" Enrique looked at all of the Koopas confused. "...do you guys even care about your lives? You literally froze when you noticed I had the gun pointed at you."

"I thought you said you don't freeze?" Kromark turned his head towards Jenna, with other Koopas around her looking at her too.

"I don't!" She snapped back at them. "I never freeze."

"Yeah, sure." The Koopas around her started to laugh, including Kromark, who became a little bit distracted. They all got in to a joking argument about how Jenna became nervous around them all, getting her angry. While Enrique was still frozen in the air, he began to notice that Kromark's wand wasn't completely directed at him anymore, and the beam link to keep the bubble shield up was weakening. The thickness of the bubble began to fade until he eventually fell back on to the ground as Kromark was too distracted by making jokes about Jenna. Knowing that he would still be out-gunned, Enrique quickly got up on his feet and ran off of the bridge. Kromark took too long to react and missed firing his beam at Enrique again, missing him as he disappeared from his sight. Enrique rolled down the broken deck and slid quickly in to the river, completely being engulfed underwater. He tried to swim as quickly as he could, with his pistol and the wand still in both hands. To his surprise, there was debris from the bridge everywhere underwater, allowing him to hide after getting another breath of air. He could hear shouting from above before he put his ears underwater, and saw the sight of bullets splashing down on the surface as he was underwater, quite distant from where he was currently. The area he was swimming towards became completely shadowed by the buildings above and the remains of the bridge that still stayed above the water, keeping him out of sight. Sadly, the part of the river he was currently swimming in wasn't anywhere near where he came from, and he couldn't figure out which way to go to get out of the city. His phone was slightly damp, being inside one of his zipped pockets, but the map was completely washed over and brittle from being wet. He eventually found a spot out of the light being reflected from the full moon and in the shadow of the ruins of the bridge where he could sit down without sinking or putting effort in to float. With nobody in sight and sounds of voices coming only from above, he got out his phone again and tried sending some texts. Thankfully it was still working.

'I have the wand, but I'm in the river. Can you help get me out of it?' He sent the first text to Rosalina, hoping that she would save him from underneath the city of Uldersal somehow.

'I got the wand, but not Captain Toad unfortunately. I'm trying to escape now.' The next text went to Luigi, who was still at the borders with the other Toad Patrol guard commanders.

'Very good, it will do for now.' Luigi responded immediately back to him.

'Head southwards or right from the Manor.' Rosalina texted him back a few seconds later, indicating the direction for Enrique to swim. He didn't want to be seen above water, so before he began to swim, he put his phone, pistol, and the wand into his zipped pockets, keeping them all in the same place along with his knife, then he took a deep breath...

...

Enrique got up from the surface, taking a loud breath in upon reaching the shores of somewhere along the river. In the distance and up a slope, he could see Rosalina rushing towards him, helping to drag him out of the river completely and beckon him to start heading up the slope and back on to the hills. They were out of the city, and somehow avoiding the Asquias and the Rovins as the river was technically an entrance in to the city; just not one that was heavily guarded.

"Come now, quickly!" Rosalina kept pulling him up from the ground. "There's a bit of a battle going on at the nearest entrance from here!" Enrique felt shattered and tired, not making an effort to get up from the ground.

"Do I have to?" He groaned. "This was a very tough mission."

"You didn't have to do it." Rosalina reminded him.

"But you wanted me to do it anyway." Enrique said back, getting his back on her.

"We've got to get out of here though. You never know if a Koopa might show up here and shoot you." She used all her force and kept dragging his wet body and clothes through the grass ever so slowly. "You have my wand right?" She stopped dragging him and watched him roll over on to his back, opening up one of the zipped inside pockets in his jacket where he kept all of his utilities and the wand. He slid the wand out and left it on the floor by his head. "How are you not boiling with that coat on?" She questioned him, opening out his arms and taking his coat off for him. "...and thank you." She took the wand off the floor and casted a magical beam on to Enrique, lifting him and his coat up from the floor and protecting them in a bubble shield, very similar to the one used on him before by Kromark. Enrique's eyes started to close and his limbs started to hang.

"I'll tell you everything in the morning." He said whilst dozy. Rosalina began to run all the way up the hill, carrying Enrique and his coat with her wand, and headed south, in the direction of the nearest encampment set up by the Toad Patrol by the borders of the city. Smoke was up in the air in the direction she was going, and small flares of flames started to fill the roads leading in to the city. From the top of the hill Rosalina could see torches everywhere held by both Toad Patrol guards and Asquia followers. Combat hadn't yet begun from what she could see, but Luigi, Daisy, and the Toad Patrol commanders were seen standing behind hundreds of guards in formation on the road, standing behind several barricades set up. The Asquia guards were halfway across the city and hadn't yet known about Enrique sneaking in through the river entrance and stealing the wand from Jenna Asquia. The Asquia goons were heavily outnumbered, not knowing this, but they had their own barricades to use as defence. Upon hearing a voice from the crowds below, Rosalina stopped where she was moving and let Enrique down on the grass again. The voices were heavily inaudible from where she was, but it seemed to be coming from the inside of the city.

"The wand has been stolen!" A familiar voice stood out from the rest of the voices she could hear below. Both sides of the siege had not got any idea what to do with the other in front of them. "Kill them, kill them all!" The same voice echoed across the entrance, but nobody started to fire their weapons. Only a few more voices were heard below. The words from the loudest voice woke Enrique up, and made him crawl over to Rosalina so they both got a view of what was going on. The Asquia goons didn't seem to want to engage in fighting the Toad Patrol guards even after knowing that Enrique had taken Rosalina's wand back from Jenna.

"They're not fighting." Rosalina said to Enrique, watching down on the road.

"Good." Enrique laughed. "I'm going to sleep."

...

EOC: This took three days, so hopefully I'm able to keep up this pace again. I will still be uploading nearly weekly, but if I have an overload of spare chapters then I will post more frequently.

See you next chapter!