I do think it's worth mentioning that Mario has grown taller and at this point is about 2 inches shorter than Princess Toadstool. Luigi has also grown taller and has stayed the same height above Mario.
It was unusually dark and stormy that night as Mario sprinted through Bowser's castle, once again in search of his pink princess. Mario was soaked from the rain outside, and although the red-clothed plumber hardly showed any emotion besides anger in fighting the King Koopa, he jumped at every bolt of lighting and shattering sound of thunder. That had never happened before. One had to wonder what had gotten into him.
As Mario ran quickly to the doors that he knew were hosting a giant monster and an unwilling princess, he burst them straight off of their hinges. Even the princess was surprised at this act of anger. Mario hardly ever became violent, and even when he did, he tried his best to duck and dodge rather than hitting back. Mario was gasping for breath from the running he had just performed.
"BOWSER! Come on! It's just the same thing over and over again! I'm gonna kick your butt, return the princess safely home, then you'll once again try to get your "revenge" on me! This is pointless!" Mario yelled, with not one hint of an accent, strangely being on point rather than just telling him to give the princess up. Needless to say, both Bowser and Princess Peach were oddly confused at his straightforwardness.
"THIS TIME IT'S DIFFERENT!" Bowser roared through the air. The plumber clutched his ears at the eardrum-breaking noise.
"YOU SAY THAT EVERY SINGLE TIME!" Mario screamed back.
"This time I have your PRECIOUS BROTHER along with the princess!" Bowser taunted. Mario's eyes went wide as his pupils shrank in fear. Bowser's minions pulled out Luigi, whom Mario did not expect to be unharmed, but to the shorter plumber's delight, he was. However, Mario's relief disappeared as soon as it had come as fear washed over him when the king of koopas spoke again. "As you know I would not dare to hurt my future queen, but as for your brother... I could care less." At that statement, Mario began to panic mentally, but on the outside, he kept his cool, but also kept quiet. He looked up as his younger, yet taller twin brother dressed in green screamed with tears. "PLEASE JUST LEAVE US ALONE! WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE ALL THIS EVIL CRAP ANYWAY! DON'T HURT EITHER OF THEM PLEASE!" Mario was shocked, to say the least at his brother's sacrificial outburst.
Bowser quieted Luigi with one swipe of his claw... Mario gazed in horror as blood poured from three gigantic scratches in his twin brothers arm.
Mario sighed in hesitance. From that sigh, Bowser knew he was about to hear exactly what he wanted. In a quiet and submissive tone, staring at Bowser with a determined expression, he asked just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "What do you want me to do?"
Neither the princess nor the green plumber expected that response. Luigi was the first to speak up. "NO! I'll be fine! DON'T-" but he was silenced as Bowser scratched him even deeper in the back. Luigi fell to the floor, shaking, as he was covered in his own blood. Not to mention that he was whimpering.
Mario didn't hesitate to try and keep his brother from further harm "STOP IT! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO! JUST PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM ANYMORE!" The group of three were surprised to hear such a response so quickly. Mario hung his head down with his cap covering his face and hugged himself. Bowser smirked so evilly and devilishly that it could make someone run 5 miles straight in the opposite direction.
Bowser spoke softly, which was even scarier, as he slowly and slyly approached the plumber in red. The three Mushroom Kingdom residents all thought that King Koopa wanted Mario to die. "What I want you to do is very simple..." Mario began shaking as the spotlight was put on him. Bowser then whispered something very quietly into Mario's ear. With that, Mario snapped his head up so quickly towards Peach, then just as quickly looked towards Luigi, then back at Bowser, completely shocked. "Y-y-you aren't SERIOUS!?" Bowser only chuckled. Mario watched Bowser walk back towards Luigi, terrified. Mario's expression scared the princess and brother, they had NEVER seen him wear that expression. Bowser had only taken two steps around Mario when he immediately and without warning jerked in a 180, using the momentum from his turn to hit Mario with his fist so hard that when Mario hit the stone wall, it cracked... and the four in the room heard something else crack beside the wall.
Mario groaned very painfully as he pulled himself to his feet, clutching his chest. He was leaning against the wall, wincing as he breathed in and out. Bowser picked up his hat, and without a word, he threw it into the lava pile. Bowser chuckled as his adversary was barely even strong enough to stand. Mario was shaking all over as he attempted to anticipate Bowser's next move. Bowser gripped Mario's shirt collar as he tossed the poor plumber in the air like a ragdoll. Mario could only flail his limbs helplessly as he continued falling towards his inevitable doom. Mario yelped as the side of Bowser's fist collided with the middle of his body, thrust him down, and crushed him on the floor. Mario struggled to rise to his feet and ended up only being able to shake on his hands and knees as he was only able to choke in and out raspy, shallow breaths. His once denim overalls were stained dark with dirt and pebbles. You couldn't even tell that his gloves used to be white. At that moment, Bowser's playful, evil grin turned into a frown of death. "CONFESS!"
Immediately Peach and Luigi were confused and worried at the same time. They glanced at each other.
While clutching his chest tightly with one hand, Mario managed to squeeze out a very strained response."Igh... I don't know if you've noticed...hnngh... but it's hard to talk with... b-broken ribs..."
"DO YOU THINK I CARE!?" Bowser shouted as he kicked Mario directly in the spot that he had been holding earlier. Mario slid on his side from the blow. He was holding himself as he whimpered every time he breathed out through clenched teeth.
Being perplexed enough for one day, Peach screamed her frustration out. "CONFESS WHAT!?" The princess shouted with tears in her eyes.
Bowser took this opportunity to expose Mario. "He has been hiding a VERY important secret from you for years." Peach narrowed her eyes and glared at Bowser in disbelief. "N-no, I'm the princess! N-none of my s-subjects hides anything from me! YOU'RE L-LYING!" In response, Bowser grinned again. "I'm not, and you know it."
Peach hung her head and then stared at Mario. "I-is this true?"
Mario groaned and sadly gazed down at the floor in reply. Peach was paralyzed in shock. She never expected for Mario to hide something. There was a short moment of silence before Peach screamed out again.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER! STOP HURTING HIM!" Peach commanded in desperation.
"I think this particular secret is VERY important."
With that, Bowser picked Mario up again flung him diagonally towards the floor at an alarming rate. He hit the ground so hard that his shirt and overalls ripped. He flipped around after bouncing up in the air and slid on his back off of a ledge. At just the right time, Mario grasped the ledge with one hand. One of the straps had broken and you could barely see the bottom of his shirt. Well, what was left of his shirt. Most of it had fallen off in scraps when he made contact with the ground. Mario managed to scramble onto the ledge. He was an absolute mess. His entire left sleeve except for a small scrap being held by his glove was torn off and only a small strip of his upper body was still covered by the shirt. His skin was covered in bruises, scratches, and dirt. He had small red bloody blotches on a few parts of his visible body. He had a bad scratch on his right cheekbone from the collision with the ground and his lip was bleeding. Even though he was a little chubby, he was mostly muscular, and very fit.
His breath was squeaky as all of the pain from being tossed around overwhelmed his body. He couldn't move. His body refused to stop trembling. Bowser stepped closer and closer. "Alright then, I'll give you a reason to confess." He grabbed Luigi and started to lightly scratch his neck just deep enough for it to bleed. "NO STOP!" Peach, Luigi, and Bowser all then saw something they had never seen before. Mario was again on his hands and knees... but... he was... he was CRYING. Mario breathed unevenly as the tears streamed down his face, nothing to hide his face anymore.
"Then CONFESS," Bowser demanded.
Mario mumbled something unintelligibly. "Nobody heard that," Bowser stated threateningly. He pulled his fist back. Luigi braced for impact, but felt nothing as Mario tensed up and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I LOVE YOU PEACH ALRIGHT!?" It only took a moment for the message to register in both Peach's and Luigi's minds. They all sat for a while as Mario's voice echoed around. "I love you... so much." At this point Mario was laying down, knees pressed to his pained chest as he clutched his hair tightly. His voiced cracked as he responded to Bowser in defeat. "Please... just let them go. You've done it, you've humiliated me, you've hurt me to the point where I can't even STAND... so just stop... please." The last word came out as a whisper while he was shaking very firmly. Bowser stood straight as he waited for the comment to settle in, apparently satisfied.
Bowser had found out a while earlier about Mario's true feelings toward Peach. Everyone, including Luigi, thought that Mario was rescuing the princess only because it was the right thing to do, and when Peach denied both of them on the moon, it was figured that the conflict would stop. And it did, for the few months before this current incident.
Bowser menacingly stepped closer to Mario. In fear, he backed up a little too fast and fell over another ledge. This time he couldn't grab anything. He succumbed to his fate waiting for the heat to engulf him. He was caught by a giant fist grabbing his leg. He looked up to see BOWSER pulling him to safety. He was not unscathed, the top-right part of his back and his right shoulder just barely got close enough to give him some serious burns, but he wasn't dead.
Mario stared in amazement as for a fraction of a second Bowser's face went soft just before being replaced by angry disappointment.
In a flat tone without looking at anyone, Bowser commanded his minions to get the three out of the castle. Luigi was carefully unchained, and Peach was unlocked from the cage and helped down. Luigi immediately ran over to Mario and helped him up. Luigi half-carried his brother with his left arm around Mario's chest and Mario's right arm around Luigi's shoulder. With his free hand, Mario was still holding his injured chest as he attempted to breathe. The plumbers and princess were escorted to the front doors of the fortress. With the doors groaning as they were shut, the three were left alone, let GO, by Bowser. The entire journey back to Toad Town, the only sound was their shuffling footsteps and Mario's light groans as he tried to keep breathing through the pain in his chest. To say that the toads were shocked to see their heroes injured so badly, especially Mario, needing help to WALK, would be a severe understatement. Usually, the entire town would be upon them asking questions left and right and the mushroom people would be surrounding the Mario Bros, however, this time, they were stepping to the sides of the paths to let them through without a word. Needless to say, the three were very thankful to just be let through without any questions. After a bit of arguing, Peach and Luigi persuaded Mario to stay at the palace for a while and get a doctor to treat his injuries.