Mario

Within an hour, Mario and the Toad Brigade began making their way towards the town. They decided to let Yoshi go, since he had fulfilled his task of getting Mario and Toad out of the desert, and it wasn't that far of a walk to Toad Town. He seemed happy to go, and ran off towards the open plains east of the camp. As they walked, Mario attempted to make some small talk with Toadette.

"So, how does this secret passage go to Bowser's castle? I thought he had moved it to the volcano."

"He did," she replied. "We've been digging from the original passage towards his new castle. Luckily, we finally hit a wall just a few days ago, and we think it's one of the walls in the dungeon."

"Perfect." The group was silent for the rest of the way, the anticipation of the upcoming battle finally settling in. Before long, they could see a wall rising over the hills. "Is that..."

"Yep. Welcome to Toad Town. Or should I say, Koopa Town. Bowser isn't that good with names."

"Yeah, I can see that," Mario agreed. Sure enough, as they stood atop the hill, Mario could see a town within the wall. However, instead of red and white mushroom-shaped houses occupying the space, there were brown mushroom houses and shell-shaped houses. Clearly, Bowser's minions had done some redecorating. In the distance, Mario could see a mountain rising up over the area, with a massive castle perched on its peak. Toadette seemed to notice him staring at the castle, nodding with grim determination.

"Don't worry, we'll take him down," she said. Toadette led the group to a cluster of bushes near the wall, where a trapdoor lay hidden in the brush. Mario gathered the group around the trapdoor, holding one final meeting.

"Alright, lets go over the plan one more time. We'll travel through the tunnel, breaking into the dungeon. We'll get the key from the guard and release all of the prisoners. Once we weaponize them with the pickaxes they used for mining, you guys will lead them in taking over one of the airships. Meanwhile, I'll head to the throne room to take down Bowser. Are we understood?" Everyone nodded, and one by one they jumped into the hole, ready to end Bowser's reign once and for all.

Bowser

"My lord, the guards have spotted Mario and a group of Toads outside of Koopa Town!" A Goomba shouted, bursting into the throne room.

"Finally!" Bowser roared. He stood up from the throne, still carrying his new staff, and made his way to the dungeon. He had not put the staff down since picking it up, relishing in the new power that had consumed him. As he entered the dungeon, he wordlessly made his way to Peach's cell, yanking open the door and wrapping his hand around her. Slinging her over his shoulder, he stormed out, leaving a shocked Daisy behind.

"Where are you taking me now?!" Peach demanded.

"Why, I'm taking you to your VIP spot for the show!" Reentering the throne room, Bowser marched over to a cage on the side of the room and tossed her in before slamming the door shut and locking it. Looking up, he nodded, prompting a group of Koopa Troopas to lift the cage up towards the ceiling. On the other side of the room, another group of Koopas were doing the same thing to a cage containing an unconcious Luigi. "Excellent! Now, we wait for the party!"

Mario

After what seemed like hours of silent walking, the group finally reached the end of the tunnel. Mario, the strongest in the group, pushed on the wall, and it gave way surprisingly easily. Seeing no one, Mario motioned for the others to come out. Eventually, they found the cells and a sleeping guard. It was almost too easy. He snatched the key and handed it to Toadette.

"You start opening the cells. I'll see if I can find the throne room." He began to run off, but was stopped when he heard a voice.

"Who's there?" It called out. Curious, Mario began looking in each of the cells. Whispering for the Toads to stay quiet, he stopped when he reached a cell containing a woman. At first, his heart began to swell, until he noticed the ginger hair.

"Are you Mario?" Daisy asked.

"Yes. Don't worry, we're getting you out of here. Where is Peach?"

"Mario, you must be careful. Bowser took her to his throne room, but it's a trap. Long story short, he has a staff that Professor E. Gadd created that basically makes him invincible. If you don't do something about that weapon, you're done for." Mario thought for a moment, before an idea came to him. "You said it was created by the professor?" Daisy nodded. "Hey Toad!" he called out. Toad ran over to him, a curious look on his face.

"What is it?"

"New plan. I'm still going to make my way to the throne room, but I need you to find the lab. You need to interrogate the professor and see if you can learn a weakness about the weapon. I don't care what you have to do, just learn the weakness. Then, run as fast as you can to the throne room, where I'll try to stall for time until you get there. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, but one question. Why don't you just find the professor yourself?"

"Because if Bowser took Peach from her cell, then he must already know we're here. I need to stop him before he does something to her. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a small army of mooks were heading down here to take us out, so we should probably warn Toadette." They ran over to the pink Toad, who was busy unlocking all of the cells. After explaining the new plan, she nodded.

"It's risky, but it will have to work." She turned to face Toad. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Of course. Plus, I want to prove myself. I failed the princess once five years ago, I refuse to let it happen again."

"Okay, just be careful." They turned to leave the dungeon, before hearing what sounded like hundreds of soldiers storming down the staircase.

The final battle had begun.