1 Year Later

"So, are you telling me that you were implying I'm Bowser Jr.'s mother?!" Peach exclaimed. Mario and the princess were in her room, watching one of Mario's movies. Currently, they were watching Super Mario Sunshine, and now Mario was cringing at his past work.

"Well, that wasn't the intention, but a lot of people took it that way..." He was prepared to explain when Toadsworth, the princess's personal steward, entered the room.

"Excuse me, princess, but your presence is required at once. There is a commotion in town." Peach sighed and turned to face Mario.

"The fights have been occurring far more frequently lately. I don't know what to do..."

"Come on, let's just go try to dispute it. And don't worry, I'll come too." She nodded, and they followed Toadsworth out of the castle and into town, where two sides containing Toads and Bowser's former minions were currently shouting at each other. After Bowser had been defeated, many of his troops claimed that they never really supported his goals, hence why they simply stayed in the town instead of in the castle. Peach figured this would be an opportunity to give them a second chance, allowing them to live in Toad Town, but this was met with much opposition among the Toads.

"Get out of town!" one Toad shouted.

"I'm starting to think things were better when Bowser was king!" retorted a Goomba. The fights always ended like this, and Mario knew it was starting to get to Peach.

"Everyone, please!" she yelled, to little avail. Finally, Mario figured he would have to step in.

"QUIET!" he shouted. This, finally, caused everyone to settle down, but there were still hostile glares being cast from each group.

"Thank you, Mario. My people, I know this is difficult to get used to, but-"

"They're taking our homes!" a Toad shouted.

"Believe me, we are currently in the process of making new homes for all of the refugees. We just need-"

"They killed my brother!" A familiar voice shouted. Toadette stepped out from the crowd and faced the princess. The twin sister of the former captain of the guard, Toadette had grown disillusioned with the Mushroom Kingdom after Bowser had killed her brother, Captain Toad. Now, she was usually the primary instigator in these conflicts, often leading into heated debates between her and Peach.

"Toadette, these people didn't kill your brother. It was-"

"Yes, I know it was technically Bowser, but it would never have happened if these freaks didn't help him take over in the first place!" This started another round of arguing, and Peach was clearly done with it.

"Mario, why don't you go on home? Things will settle down here eventually." Mario sighed.

"Are you sure?" All he got was a nod as the princess returned her gaze to the crowd. He made his way back to the castle and entered the room containing the warp pipe. After he had started making frequent trips, the princess had decided to relocate the pipe from the desert into the castle in order to save Mario the long trips. He greatly appreciated the thought, as the day long journey through the desert had never been very fun. Jumping onto the pipe, Mario soon found himself back in the closet in his home. Opening the door, he heard Luigi in the kitchen making dinner.

Originally, Mario would have just gone straight downstairs to tell his brother he was home, but Luigi had started to think Mario was slacking off of work. No matter what he said or did, Mario could never convince his brother to go with him to the Mushroom Kingdom. After being kidnapped, Mario had hoped his brother might start to believe, but Luigi had remained unconscious almost the entire time. This resulted in him simply thinking it was either a prank or a dream. Since then, Mario had all but given up, and now took a secret route out the window that would let him come in through the front door.

"Hey, Luigi, I'm home!"

Bowser Jr.

The mansion was bustling with activity as Boos, Goombas, and Koopas alike scurried about, completing tasks assigned by their king. King Bowser, or rather, King Boo, was ordering some Goombas around when a Boo fllew into the room.

"My lord, I bring news from Toad Town."

"Yes, yes, what is it?" King Boo prodded.

"Our spies have successfully sowed distrust among the Toads. Tensions are rising between them and the traitors."

"Excellent. Now, we move on to phase two. We have sowed distrust among the Toads, now we must sow disloyalty among the traitors. Send them running back to us." The Boo nodded and left the room as Bowser Jr. stormed up to the throne.

"How much longer until I get my revenge? We have been working together for a year now, but you haven't brought me any results!" King Boo sighed.

"Look, Junior, everything is going according to plan. You just need a little more patience, and then you will get all of the revenge you desire!" He let out a laugh, but Junior didn't look so easily convinced. "We just need more soldiers. Once my spies have convinced most of the traitors to join us, that will be our opportunity to strike. It won't be long now!"

Author's note: Yeah, okay, I took a really long time to get this chapter out, and I'm sorry about that. Mostly, it was a combination of irl stuff going on and an extremely bad case of writer's block. While I don't expect it to take as long as this one did, the next few chapters might take a while because I still haven't exactly gotten out of the block. I don't expect more than two weeks though, so hopefully I can get it out pretty soon.